Raj
In many
Indian languages,
Raj literally means
Prince or
Royalty though is often used to mean something more like the English term of
empire and as such is often used in reference to the
Mughal Raj and the
British Raj: the period of direct colonial rule of
India by the
British Empire.
for Raj as a cartoon character see
Raj (Camp Lazlo)Raj (c.f.
Rashtra, nation) is a particularly striking example of a word with a common
Proto-Indo-European root with many words related to rulers or ruling in European languages. For example:
*
Old High German: richi (
Modern German:
Reich)
*
Old English: rice (
Modern English: rich, regent)
*
Proto-Indo-European: *reg
*
Latin: regalis, regere,
rex*
Old Prussian: reiks
*
Old Norse: rike (as in medieval
Norwegian Gårdarike, or
Modern Swedish:
Rike).
*
Modern English: regal, royal, rule, rein, reign (Royal has more history with the French roi)
See also the list of words of disputed pronunciation
