Register - What Does It Mean?

in etymology •  7 years ago 

It's been puzzling me for quite some time so I sat down to do some research.
A few years ago I had found where the word "register" meant conveyance of title to an authority, but since then I haven't been able to find it in the legislations I've been looking through.

I've heard two theories to which the word REGISTER meant handing over ownership:

  1. Regis = to rule over + Ster = divine feminine (middle english, from old english - estre female agent)
    So by this - the CROWN/GOVERNMENT owns everything Registered. When you Register something, the divine feminine energy is ruled over or usurped.

  2. Reg = move in a straight line, thus to rule + gist/gistry = a temporary conveyance of title to the crown.
    The king came along and demanded the re gister all of their land and possessions to him for protection. This is founded in the Magna Carta and feudalism.

Since I wasn't able to turn up too many results if any going through queen's printer on google to find what register meant, I popped over to Etymology Online to take a peek at what they had.

The first thing I did was look up (noun) registry. It obviously didn't give me too many results other than it means register + -y, and that it meant book of record from the 1620's.

Not overly helpful, but I did notice when you clicked on -y, it mentioned that adding -y onto a word in old french turns it into something that indicated "employment, office, dignity". So register with a y means something bureaucratic or higher status so to speak.

I then went to look up the word (noun) register and found this:

late 14c., from Old French registre (13c.) and directly from Medieval Latin registrum, alteration of Late Latin regesta "list, matters recorded," noun use of Latin regesta, neuter plural of regestus, past participle of regerere "to record; retort," literally "to carry back, bring back" from re- "back" (see re-) + gerere "carry, bear" (see gest).

When I clicked on re-, it said "back to the original place; again, anew, once more," also with a sense of "undoing," c. 1200 and (noun) gest, Latin gesta "actions, exploits, deeds, achievements," noun use of neuter plural of Latin gestus, past participle of gerere "to carry on, wage, perform," of unknown origin.

So according to the etymology of register - it means to perform going back to it's original place. What exactly is the original place and if this is supposed to be a book of record, why is it a book of putting things back?

There were also a couple other definitions under register - "assistant court officer in administrative or routine function," - as seen when we put -y behind a word previously and the last definition - late 14c. (transitive), "enter in a listing," from Old French registrer "note down, include" (13c.) and directly from Medieval Latin registrare, from registrum (see register (n.)).

Anything including registration and registrar go back to the word register - again which means the action of going back to it's original place.

All dead ends.

I then decided to search regis in the search bar and came up with a bunch of words - particularly pertaining to that of royalty. Why would register pop up with terms such as regal and royal?

I surfed through and picked out a couple words to look at.

Firstly, I took a look at regal - late 14c., from Old French regal "royal" (12c.) or directly from Latin regalis "royal, kingly; of or belonging to a king, worthy of a king," from rex (genitive regis) "king".
So the old word regal means king.

I picked out the word royal - mid-13c., "fit for a king;" late 14c., "pertaining to a king," from Old French roial "royal, regal; splendid, magnificent" (12c., Modern French royal), from Latin regalis "of a king, kingly, royal, regal," from rex (genitive regis) "king."
Again, it means king.

I picked out one last word, rex for good interesting measure - "a king," 1610s, from Latin rex (genitive regis) "a king," related to regere "to keep straight, guide, lead, rule."

I noticed that every single one of these definitions had the word *reg as their pie root.

So then I went ahead and clicked *reg to check out what that was all about. The results said this in the first line - Proto-Indo-European root meaning "move in a straight line," with derivatives meaning "to direct in a straight line," thus "to lead, rule."

It is also followed by:

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by:

Sanskrit raj- "a king, a leader," rjyati "he stretches himself," riag "torture" (by racking); Avestan razeyeiti "directs," raštva- "directed, arranged, straight;" Persian rahst "right, correct;" Latin regere "to rule, direct, lead, govern," rex (genitive regis) "king," rectus "right, correct;" Greek oregein "to reach, extend;" Old Irish ri, Gaelic righ "a king," Gaulish -rix "a king" (in personal names, such as Vircingetorix), Old Irish rigim "to stretch out;" Gothic reiks "a leader," raihts "straight, right;" Lithuanian raižius "to stretch oneself;" Old English rice "kingdom," -ric "king," rice "rich, powerful," riht "correct;" Gothic raihts, Old High German recht, Old Swedish reht, Old Norse rettr "correct."

So virtually any etymology of the word that has to do with regis points directly to *reg which essentially means royalty.

To check one last thing, I searched regere in the search bar as was found in the etymology of rex noted above.

Words popped up such as regiment, realm and reign. Other words such as register and again *reg popped up as well. Virtually any word that had to do with leading, going in a straight line or royalty came up in the search.

Regiment - late 14c., "government, rule, control," from Old French regiment "government, rule" (14c.), from Late Latin regimentum "rule, direction," from Latin regere "to rule, to direct, keep straight, guide"

Realm - *late 13c., "kingdom," from Old French reaume, probably from roiaume "kingdom," altered (by influence of Latin regalis "regal") from Gallo-Roman regiminem, accusative form of Latin regimen "system of government, rule," from regere "to rule, to direct, keep straight, guide"

Reign - early 13c., "kingdom," from Old French reigne "kingdom, land, country" (Modern French règne), from Latin regnum "kingship, dominion, rule, realm," related to regere "to rule, to direct, keep straight, guide"

All three ended with - *(from PIE root reg- "move in a straight line," with derivatives meaning "to direct in a straight line," thus "to lead, rule").

In conclusion with these searching regarding registry thus far - register means an action of going back to it's origin.

As for it's origin, it is clear that anything that has to do with REG in particular directly refers to royalty.

So REGISTERing anything, gets put in a book of record and is given back to the king (royalty).



This goes for everything - your car, your house, your licenses, even your kids or yourself.
If it's on the registry, the conveyance of title goes to the king.


Unfortunately I wasn't able to find much for gist as relating to royalty or registering. When searching for the word I came across this:

1711, "the real point" (of a law case, etc.), from Anglo-French legalese phrases such as cest action gist "this action lies," from Old French gist en "it consists in, it lies in," from gist (Modern French gît), third person singular present indicative of gésir "to lie," from Latin iacet "it lies," from iacere "to lie, rest," related to iacere "to throw" (from PIE root *ye- "to throw, impel"). Extended sense of "essence" first recorded 1823.

So if one were to combine re and gist it COULD mean the action lies in going back - a summary/sum given back.

However the former seemed to make more sense unless the book itself of record was called a gist or gistry - in which case it would fit together nicely as a summary of registered things to give back.


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Nice study!!! How interesting our language is.

It's quite interesting to see where our words come from and what they actually mean.
Even in the english language there is multiple kinds of languages.

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Etymology is so fascinating, particularly when the original references the word was built on have completely ceased to make sense. I'd imagine most registries in this day and age have absolutely nothing to do with a king, even in countries where a king is still a relevant concept.

I am possibly also unduly amused by the tossed in reference to racking under the list of definitions for *reg. I suppose that does have a little bit to do with kings.

That's the thing - is they're not relevant in a social day to day context.
But in many cases they are such as registering anything in government - particularly commonwealth countries.
When you register, you make a temporary transfer in title, meaning it's no longer yours.
And that's why you must meet all the standards set forth such as having insurance otherwise you get your property robbed from you - they can't take what isn't theirs otherwise it's a crime.
By registering, you made it theirs, and thus they will do what they want with it especially if there's a possible liability issue.
For example, going form point A to point B in a registered car with no insurance?
That's part of the contract when you registered it, and thus it's a liability because you're not following the rules set forth that would relieve them of liability. Impounded car.

Etymology is interesting for sure.