- skip - Brewer’s

Sovereign

.

A strangely misspelled word, the last syllable being mistaken for the word reign. It is the Latin supern (supreme over all), with the p changed to v. The French souverain is nearer the Latin word; Italian, sovrano; Spanish, soberano.

Sovereign, a gold coin of the value of twenty shillings, was first issued by Henry VIII., and so called because he was represented on it in royal robes.

 

previous entry · index · next entry

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

previous entry · index · next entry

Sound as a Bell
Sound as a Roach
Soundings
Sour Grapes
Sour Grapeism
South-Sea Scheme or Bubble
Southampton Street (London)
Southampton’s Wise Sons
Southern Gate of the Sun
Soutras
Sovereign
Sow (to rhyme with “now”)
Spa or Spa Water
Spade
Spadish Language (In)
Spafields (London)
Spagiric Art
Spagiric Food
Spagnaletto [the little Spaniard]
Spaie
Spain