different between commonwealth vs realm

English

Etymology

From common (“public”) +? wealth (“well-being”).From c. 1450 as common wele (commonweal). In the form common-wealth (common welthe) from c. 1520, used by Tyndale in the sense "secular society" in particular, for which other authors preferred publike weal.Also from the 1520s treated as a synonym or loan-translation of res publica (republic) (Rollison 2017:67f).

Pronunciation

• (Canada, US) IPA^(key): /?k?m?n?w?l?/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /?k?m?n?w?l?/
• (General New Zealand) IPA^(key): /?k?m?n?wel?/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /?k?m?n?w?l?/

Noun

commonwealth (plural commonwealths)

1. (obsolete) The well-being of a community.
2. The entirety of a (secular) society, a polity, a state.
   • c. 1526, Tyndale's Bible, Ephesians 2:12

     Remeber I saye yt ye were at that tyme wt oute Christ and were reputed aliantes from the comen welth [???????? (politeía)] of Israel and were straugers fro the testamentes of promes and had no hope and were with out god in this worlde.

   • 1610-11, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act II Scene 1

     I'th' commonwealth I would by contraries

     Execute all things, for no kind of traffic

     Would I admit; no name of magistrate;

     Letters should not be known; riches, poverty,

     And use of service, none; contract, succession,

     Bourn, bound of land, tilth, vineyard, none;

     No use of metal, corn, or wine, or oil;

     No occupation, all men idle, all,

     And women too, but innocent and pure;

     No sovereignty——

3. Republic. Often capitalized, as Commonwealth.
   • 1649, Act of the Long Parliament

     Be it declared and enacted by this present Parliament and by the Authoritie of the same That the People of England and of all the Dominions and Territoryes thereunto belonging are and shall be and are hereby constituted, made, established, and confirmed to be a Commonwealth and free State And shall from henceforth be Governed as a Commonwealth and Free State by the supreame Authoritie of this Nation, the Representatives of the People in Parliam[ent] and by such as they shall appoint and constitute as Officers and Ministers under them for the good of the People and that without any King or House of Lords.

Derived terms

For example, the official name of Australia is Commonwealth of Australia. It is applied to four states of the United States, to wit, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the Commonwealth of Kentucky, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the Commonwealth of Virginia. Also used by self-governing, semi-autonomous units such as the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

Related terms

• commonweal

Translations

References

• David Rollison, A Commonwealth of the People: Popular Politics and England's Long Social Revolution, 1066-1649, Cambridge University Press, (2010), p. 13.
• David Rollison in: Fitter (ed.), Shakespeare and the Politics of Commoners: Digesting the New Social History, Oxford University Press, (2017), 64–83.

English

Etymology

From Middle English rewme, realme, reaume, from Old French reaume, realme (“kingdom”), of unclear origins. A postulated *r?g?limen (“domain, kingdom”), Late Latin or Vulgar Latin cross of r?gimen with r?g?lis is usually cited.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) enPR: r?lm, IPA^(key): /??lm/
• Rhymes: -?lm

Noun

realm (plural realms)

1. An abstract sphere of influence, real or imagined.
   • 1907, Tada Kanai, translated by Arthur Lloyd, Seven Buddhist Sermons, "The World and How to Pass Through It"

     Why should we despise anything in the realm of Buddha?

   • 2006, Christian Neef, "Diary of a Collapsing Superpower", Spiegel Magazine, November 22,

     At home in Moscow, Mikhail Sergeyevitch Gorbachev, who had launched a campaign to rejuvenate the Soviet realm  […]
2. The domain of a certain abstraction.
   • 1922, Judson Eber Conant,The Church The Schools and Evolution, "Truth Must be Classified Scientifically",

     One thing more which the scientific man does is to accord primacy to that realm of truth which is primary in importance.

3. (computing) A scope of operation in networking or security.
4. (formal or law) A territory or state, as ruled by a specific power, especially by a king.
   • 1874, Horatio Alger, Brave and Bold, Chapter XXXI,

     And, of this island realm, he and his companion were the undisputed sovereigns.

   • 1913, Leslie Alexander Toke, Catholic Encyclopedia, "St. Dunstan",

     Then seeing his life was threatened he fled the realm and crossed over to Flanders, […]

5. (fantasy, role-playing games) An otherworldly dimension or domain — magical, ethereal, or otherwise — usually ruled or created by a mystical character.
6. (virology, taxonomy) A taxonomic rank in the phylogeny of viruses, higher than kingdoms.

Synonyms

• (a territory or state): country, land, kingdom
• (a sphere of activity or influence): field, province

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

• Almer, Lamer, Lemar, Lerma, Maler, lamer, maerl, maler, marle, meral