retinue

English

WOTD – 27 October 2007

Etymology

From Middle English retenue, from Old French retenue, past participle of retenir (“retain”). Doublet of ritenuto.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɹɛt.ɪ.njuː/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɹɛtɪn(j)uː/
• (obsolete) IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈtɪnjuː/

• Audio (US):

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  Audio (US):

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Noun

retinue (plural retinues)

1. A group of attendants or servants, especially of someone considered important.

   Synonyms: entourage, (obsolete, rare) retain

   the queen’s retinues

   • 1915 April, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], “Spring in Town”, in Fifty-one Tales, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews, →OCLC:

     And not any longer as a king did Winter appear in those streets, as when the city was decked with gleaming white to greet him as a conqueror and he rode in with his glittering icicles and haughty retinue of prancing winds, but he sat there with a little wind at the corner of the street like some old blind beggar with his hungry dog.

   • 12 July 2012, Sam Adams, AV Club Ice Age: Continental Drift

     Preceded by a Simpsons short shot in 3-D—perhaps the only thing more superfluous than a fourth Ice Age movie—Ice Age: Continental Drift finds a retinue of vaguely contemporaneous animals coping with life in the post-Pangaea age.

2. A group of warriors or nobles accompanying a king or other leader; comitatus.
   • 1992, J. A. V. Haney and Eric Dahl, “On Igor’s Campaign” (translation of Слово о плъку Игоревѣ):

     Then Igor looked up at the bright sun and saw all his warriors / darkened from it by a shadow. / And Igor said to his retinue: / “Brothers and companions! It is better to be slain than taken captive. / Mount, brothers, your swift horses that we may glimpse the Blue Don.”

3. (obsolete) A service relationship.

Derived terms

• queen retinue pheromone

Translations

group of servants

• Armenian: շքախումբ (hy) (škʻaxumb)
• Bulgarian: свита (bg) f (svita)
• Catalan: seguici (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 随从 (zh),随员 (zh) (suíyuán)

• Dutch: gevolg (nl) n, hofhouding (nl) f, hofstoet (nl) m
• Esperanto: akompanantaro
• Finnish: seurue (fi)
• French: suite (fr) f
• Greek:

  Ancient: παραδρομή f (paradromḗ)

• Irish: cóisir f
• Italian: seguito (it) m
• Latin: comitātus m
• Maori: apataki, hikuroa, hikuhiku
• Marathi: लवाजमा (lavājmā)
• Middle English: retenue, hird, meyne
• Polish: świta (pl) f, asysta (pl) f, asystencja f (archaic)
• Portuguese: séquito (pt) m
• Russian: сви́та (ru) f (svíta)
• Sanskrit: पटल (sa) n (paṭala)
• Serbo-Croatian: svita (sh)
• Spanish: servidumbre (es) f
• Swedish: följe (sv) n, uppvaktning (sv) c
• Telugu: పరివారము (te) (parivāramu)
• Ukrainian: по́чет (uk) m (póčet), сви́та f (svýta) (rare)
• Welsh: nifer (cy) m

  Middle Welsh: niuer m, yniuer m

comitatus

• Bulgarian: кортеж (bg) m (kortež)
• Catalan: seguici (ca) m
• Finnish: seurue (fi)
• French: retenue (fr) f
• Galician: séquito m, acompañamento (gl) m
• German: Gefolge (de) m
• Latin: comitātus m, cohors f
• Maori: apataki, hikuroa, hikuhiku
• Middle English: retenue, douthe, hird
• Old Church Slavonic: дроужина f (družina)
• Old East Slavic: дружина f (družina)
• Russian: дружи́на (ru) f (družína)
• Spanish: séquito (es) m, estol m
• Ukrainian: дружи́на (uk) f (družýna)
• Welsh: nifer (cy) m

  Middle Welsh: niuer m, yniuer m

service relationship

• Finnish: palvelussuhde
• Middle English: retenue

See also

• hangers-on

 

Anagrams

• neurite, reunite, unitree, uterine

Middle English

Noun

retinue

1. Alternative form of retenue