The same English queens used another language, initially (5)
I believe the answer is:
equal
'the same' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'english queens used another language initially' is the wordplay.
'english' becomes 'e' (abbreviation).
'initially' indicates taking the first letters.
The initial letters of 'queens used another language' is 'qual'.
'e'+'qual'='EQUAL'
(Other definitions for equal that I've seen before include "The same; fairly balanced" , "The same; even" , "The same in size, amount or value, etc." , "Evenly-matched" , "Fifty-fifty" .)