Princess of Light

onihime said:

I'm wondering how to say "Princess of Light" in Japanese
I know that to say Snake Princess it would be 蛇姫 (hebi hime), and Light Princess would be something like ピカ姫 (pika hime) or 光姫 (hikari hime)
But if you reverse it to 姫光 (hime hikari) would the translation change to Princess of Light? Or is there a different way to add the 'of'?

Also some other words I was wondering if they could be added to 姫 would be 眩しい and 炯然 and かがや (words meaning radiant or dazzling), for being able to say Princess of Radiance

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mdchachi said:

What is your use case (purpose)? I think 光姫 would be reasonable. It wouldn't sound natural to reverse it because then it would mean something like Princess' Light.

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Majestic said:

光姫 to me looks/sounds like name + title (think: Princess Diana).

光の姫 looks and sounds a bit more like a something you'd find in a story or fantasy. ピカ姫 is more like "Flash Princess".

煌めき姫 （キラメキ姫）＝ Sparkling Princess

We had a thread using this word just a couple of months ago. Another poster was considering that kanji in a person's name. In that thread there was some discussion on what sounded good - which might be of interest to you.

(Oops, just glanced at the thread again and it looks like it might be a bit different from your needs. Anyway, I put it here for your reference just in case)

Modern English vs Modern Japanese Lyric Flow

Hey guys, here's a question that's been sitting in the back of my head. When it comes to lyrical flow in a song, what are the general things that make it sound "off" to Japanese people? I notice a lot of times when Japanese people create their own songs and add English phrases in them, the...

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Majestic said:

Sorry, I should have been clearer.

Without the の it sounds like how real-life royal names are written in typical Japanese. ダイアナ妃 ("Diana-hi" or Princess Diana). In other words, it sounds very realistic and like something you would see in a newspaper (well...back when they had newspapers).

If you use "noun + の" and then add on 姫, it sounds like a princess from a fairytale or Disney.
姫 (princess) in itself is reminiscent of fairytales, as opposed to 妃 ("hi" - princess) which is used for real life royalty.

So Hikari-no-hime (光の姫) sounds very Disney-like, or fairytale-like.

光姫 (hikari-hime) (without the の) sounds kind of in-between. Neither pretty, nor realistic. I guess it sounds like it belongs in a fairy tale by virtue of the 姫 (hime) kanji.

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Toritoribe said:

妃 is the title used for women who married with royal/imperial family, so it doesn't always mean "princess". The reason why Princess Diana is called ダイアナ妃 in Japanese is because she married with Prince Charles. He is King Charles III now, so Camilla is Queen Consort, not Princess, but she is called カミラ妃, カミラ王妃 or カミラ王后. Similarly, Empress Elisabeth of Austria is 皇妃エリザベート, エリザベート皇妃 or エリザベート妃.

On the other hand, 姫 is used for daughters of royal/imperial family. Although 王女 (or 皇女 for imperial family) is more commonly used now, 姫 is still used. For example, シャーロット王女 is usually used for Princess Charlotte, but シャーロット姫 is also acceptable. (In fact, the Japanese name of Princess Leia Organa is レイア・オーガナ姫.)

As already pointed out, the problem of 光姫 is that it sounds like the name of a princess like "Princess Hikari" because 光 can be a Japanese female given name.

I would used 光の姫 for "Princess of Light". This can't be the name of a princess.

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This can't be the name of a princess.

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