Forms: (see SOVEREIGN sb. and a.). [a. AF. sovereyneté, soverentee, = OF. souveraineté (mod.F. souvraineté): see SOVEREIGN and -TY.] The quality or condition of being sovereign.
1. Supremacy or pre-eminence in respect of excellence or efficacy.
c. 1340. Hampole, Prose Tr., 14. Þe ende and þe soueraynte of perfeccione standes in a verray anehede of Godd.
c. 1403. Lydg., Curia Sap. (Caxton), a ij. I symple shall extoll theyr soueraynte And my rudenes shall shewe theyr subtylyte. Ibid. (1430–40), Bochas, IV. Prol. Which … dyd excel In Rethorike by suffreinte of style.
1567. Maplet, Gr. Forest, 4 b. His sufferaigntie is, that being … borne aboute a man, [it] keepeth him safe.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., IV. iii. 234. Of all complexions the cul’d soueraignty, Doe meet as at a faire in her faire cheeke. Ibid. (1601), All’s Well, I. iii. 230. Some prescriptions Of rare and prou’d effects, such as his reading … had collected For generall soueraigntie.
1610. Guillim, Heraldry, II. iii. (1660), 53. By the soveraignty of these partitions being interposed between them.
2. Supremacy in respect of power, domination or rank; supreme dominion, authority or rule.
α. c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, III. 171. Ye shul no more have sovereynte Of my love, than right in this cas is.
1390. Gower, Conf., I. 104. Till I hadde wonne The love and sovereinete Of what knyht that … Alle othre passeth.
c. 1430. Lydg., Min. Poems (Percy Soc.), 46. Crafft may shewe a foreyn apparence; But nature ay must have the sovereynte.
1475. Bk. Noblesse (Roxb.), 51. God hathe gyve that souvereynte in mannys soule.
1530. Palsgr., 273/2. Soveraynte that a lorde or a superiour hath, sovuerainté.
1570–6. Lambarde, Peramb. Kent (1826), 143–4. The Pryor of Christes Church pretended to have … a soverainty over S. Martines.
β. c. 1550. H. Rhodes, Bk. Nurture, in Babees Bk. (1868), 97. Prease not thy selfe, if thou be wyse, to haue the soueraygntye.
1579. E. K., Gloss. to Spenser’s Sheph. Cal., April, 122. The chiefedome and soueraigntye of al flowres.
1607. Shaks., Cor., IV. vii. 35. As is the Aspray to the Fish, who takes it By Soueraignty of Nature.
1639. T. de Gray, Compl. Horsem., 355. Which causeth choller to have soveraignty and dominion over the other humours.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., II. 398. Jove’s own Tree, That holds the Woods in awful Sov’raignty.
1718. Free-thinker, No. 60. 33. The Romans … had acquired the Sovereignty of the Sea.
1754. Edwards, Freedom Will, IV. vii. 233. The Sovereignty of God is his Ability and Authority to do whatever pleases him.
1821. Shelley, Hellas, 159. The sage … May have attained to sovereignty and science Over those strong and secret things.
1860. Emerson, Cond. Life, Power, Wks. (Bohn), II. 334. As long as our people quote English standards, they will miss the sovereignty of power.
γ. 14[?]. in Tundale’s Vis. (1903), 200. Where neest thi son thou hast souerente.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 466/1. Soverente, superioritas.
1447. Bokenham, Seyntys (Roxb.), 51. O lorde almyhte which hast overe al Soverente.
δ. 1460. Pol., Rel., & L. Poems (1903), 200. More-ouer I yave the suffrauntè that alle Bestis shoulde bowe þe vntyll.
1486. Eng. Misc. (Surtees), 54. Unto whome … all other floures shall lowte, and evidently yeve suffranti.
1513. Bradshaw, St. Werburge, I. 2165. Bycause that Werburge in order was senyoure, Her mother Ermenylde gaue her the sufferaynte.
3. spec. The position, rank or power of a supreme ruler or monarch; royal authority or dominion.
α. 1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), VIII. 279. Þe Scottes seide þat þey knewe non suche sovereynte þat longed to þe kyng of Engelond.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 1859. So sadly in soueraynete he set neuire his hope.
1457. Hardyng, Chron., i. in Eng. Hist. Rev., Oct. (1912), 741. Youre Fadir gafe me in commaundement In Scotlonde ryde … To seke his ryght thar for his souereynte.
1530. Palsgr., 273/2. Soveraynte of a kyng, regalité.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., II. x. 48. Had not Androgeus,… enuious of Vncles soueraintie, Betrayd his contrey.
1601. Sir W. Cornwallis, Disc. Seneca, A i b. Then must Soueraigntie nourish feare in subiection.
β. a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Edw. V., 4. Manye princes by a longe continued soueraingtee, decline to a proud porte and behaueour.
1598. Barkcley, Felic. Man (1631), 143. Semiramis … desired the king her husband, that she might raigne with soveraignty one onely day.
1625. N. Carpenter, Geog. Del., II. xiv. (1635), 238. Hee wanne the soueraignty not meerely by the sword.
c. 1670. Hobbes, Dial. Com. Laws (1681), 39. This Doctrine concerning the rights of soveraignty … is the Antient Common-Law.
1727. De Foe, Syst. Magic, I. ii. (1840), 38. Yet this diminutive rank of sovereignty remained many ages in the world.
1777. R. Watson, Philip II., IX. (1839), 173. To grant him the title and dignity of the king of Tunis, in compensation for the sovereignty of Greece.
1791. Paine, Rights of Man (ed. 4), 168. Monarchical sovereignty, the enemy of mankind, and the source of misery, is abolished.
1878. Lecky, Eng. in 18th C., I. i. 71. It placed the sovereignty entirely apart from the category of mere human institutions.
fig. 1884. Pall Mall Gaz., 16 Oct., 1/1. He [Carlyle] taught Democracy the sovereignty of Duty.
b. transf. The supreme controlling power in communities not under monarchical government; absolute and independent authority.
1860. Mill, Repr. Govt. (1865), 21/2. That [form of government] in which the sovereignty, or supreme controlling power in the last resort, is vested in the entire aggregate of the community.
1861. Morn. Post, 27 Nov., 3/3. The ‘sovereignty’ of every State was subsequently acknowledged in express terms, and is a favourite doctrine of every American writer.
1872. De Vere, Americanisms, 265. Popular sovereignty is naturally the fundamental doctrine of the republic.
4. A territory under the rule of a sovereign, or existing as an independent state.
1715. Lond. Gaz., No. 5345/3. On pretence of their being situate in the Soveraignty of Alsace.
1748. Hartley, Observ. Man, II. ii. 115. There were many petty Sovereignties in the Neighbourhood of Canada.
1849. Cobden, Speeches, 72. The United States, with thirty governors, for thirty independent sovereignties.
1867. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1877), I. iii. 123. Divided among three quite distinct sovereignties.
