A princess in another land

June 16, 2023 10:21 AM

Please suggest translations for "princess" (or adjacent words) in other languages that are not obvious cognates of the word in English (IE: no "prin" sounds).

By adjacent I mean similar meanings or usage, especially as a pet name for a young girl.

posted by signal to Writing & Language (15 answers total)

I just found this site which has a few:

Hungarian: hercegnő
Irish: banphrionsa (you can hear that pronounced here)
Welsh: tywysoges (you can hear that pronounced here)
Hawaiian: kamāliʻiwahine
Uzbek: malika
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:33 AM on June 16, 2023 [2 favorites]

Japanese is hime as in kaguya-hime.
posted by caviar2d2 at 10:37 AM on June 16, 2023 [2 favorites]

In Russian it's царевна "tsarevna"
posted by quacks like a duck at 10:37 AM on June 16, 2023

Basileia is the princess equivalent in attic Greek, but potnia is an appropriate term for a noble woman and kore is maiden, depending on the exact connotation you're looking for.
posted by praemunire at 10:39 AM on June 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

Huh. Himeko can mean "child princess" or "sun and rice child" depending on the kanji. Interesting.
posted by SPrintF at 10:48 AM on June 16, 2023

I vaguely remembered the show NCIS implying Ziva's name was Hebrew for "princess", but the word for "princess" is actually נסיכה (using the Latin alphabet it's "nesicha").
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:00 AM on June 16, 2023

In her Chalion books, Lois McMaster Bujold coins words with the stem roy-: roya, royina, royse, royesse.
posted by humbug at 11:25 AM on June 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

Księżniczka or królewna in Polish. Respectively for daughter of a prince or a king. The latter has a more fairytale feel.

(Oh right, pronunciation - xyezhneechka and kroolevna.)
posted by I claim sanctuary at 11:42 AM on June 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

Hindi & several other Indian languages (the Sanskrit derived ones): rajakumari (raja = king, kumari = daughter)

Quite often used as a pet name for small children.
posted by MiraK at 12:23 PM on June 16, 2023

In Spanish, a princess who is not in line to inherit a throne is an infanta (masc: infante). Princesa is reserved for one who will inherit.
posted by pleasant_confusion at 12:38 PM on June 16, 2023

In Russian it's царевна "tsarevna"

There is also княгиня, which would transliterate as something like 'knyaginya.' (This is a lesser title than царевна, but could also be translated as 'princess').
posted by kickingtheground at 12:43 PM on June 16, 2023

Urdu: شہزادی, shehzadi. Used for little girls, but usually in the form 'meri shehzadi' (my princess).
posted by tavegyl at 10:47 PM on June 16, 2023

gongju (공주) in Korean, but it would almost always be used with the honorific suffix "-nim" so gongju-nim (공주님)
posted by spamandkimchi at 1:30 PM on June 17, 2023

In Quenya Elvish, it's "Aranel"!
posted by taz at 2:43 AM on June 18, 2023

In Chinese it's gong1 zhu3 (公主), although it's more common to use xiao3 gong1 zhu3 (小公主) or "little princess" as a pet name for a girl.
posted by hellopanda at 2:56 AM on June 18, 2023 [1 favorite]