Erbprinz - heir of a principality, Dad is still alive, will inherit a title from Dad which is NOT „King“. Can be Margrave, Landgrave, Duke, whatever. Just not „King“.
Prinz - male member of a royal family, mostly son of King and/or Queen, but can be also kid of Queen‘s/King‘s sibling. So for example, in the Hohenzollern case, Fritz’ brother Ferdinand‘s kids would be „Prinz“ or „Prinzessin“ despite Ferdinand himself never being a King. Fun linguistic fact: in the first edition of the Brother Grimms‘ fairy tales, it‘s „Prinz“ and „Prinzessin“ all the way. This first edition was published when Napoleon was still in charge in Europe, and his little brother Jerome was ruling the Grimms‘ home province. (Jacob Grimm was actually Jerome‘s court librarian.) The war against Napoleon brought with it a massive massive rise on that new and fateful emotion, nationalism, now allied to anti-French-feeling (when in the previous century French cultural dominance had been absolute.). So come the second edition post Napoleon, Jacob, who is being side-eyed for having served Jerome anyway (that he needed the money since he as the sole earning member in a family of dependent siblings he headed not withstanding) in the new cultural climate, changes „Prinz“ to „Königssohn“. And „Prinzessin“ to „Königstochter“. Which stays put for all subsequent publications. (I.e. he replaced a term that since it was Latin-derived, German has in common with French, with some old fashioned sounding German term - meaning literally „King’s son“ and „King’s daughter“ that was actually not used before - though it’s partly inspired by Norse mythology, Jacob being a big fan of same - and subsequently got regarded as THE fairy tale term for young royals. In real life, people kept saying Prinz and Prinzessin.
Fürst (and the female, Fürstin) - is a generic term for high ranking person of the nobility. Can be used for, say, Dukes and monarchs alike, is used mostly, but not exclusively, for high ranking nobles actually having political power. For example, when the Prussian ambassador in Vienna gives his report on MT, he speaks of her in the German MT biography I‘ve read the report quoted in as „diese Fürstin“, „this princess“, which incidentally also avoids settling on „Archduchess“, „Queen“ or „Empress“. Posa in DON CARLOS says „Ich kann nicht Fürstendiener sein“ when in English he‘d have to be specific whether he doesn‘t see himself as able to serve a prince, a king or a queen, and probably has to settle for saying he can‘t be a courtier, which is part of what he means but only part.
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Re: Wilhelmine's visit home
Date: 2020-01-11 06:43 am (UTC)Prinz - male member of a royal family, mostly son of King and/or Queen, but can be also kid of Queen‘s/King‘s sibling. So for example, in the Hohenzollern case, Fritz’ brother Ferdinand‘s kids would be „Prinz“ or „Prinzessin“ despite Ferdinand himself never being a King. Fun linguistic fact: in the first edition of the Brother Grimms‘ fairy tales, it‘s „Prinz“ and „Prinzessin“ all the way. This first edition was published when Napoleon was still in charge in Europe, and his little brother Jerome was ruling the Grimms‘ home province. (Jacob Grimm was actually Jerome‘s court librarian.) The war against Napoleon brought with it a massive massive rise on that new and fateful emotion, nationalism, now allied to anti-French-feeling (when in the previous century French cultural dominance had been absolute.). So come the second edition post Napoleon, Jacob, who is being side-eyed for having served Jerome anyway (that he needed the money since he as the sole earning member in a family of dependent siblings he headed not withstanding) in the new cultural climate, changes „Prinz“ to „Königssohn“. And „Prinzessin“ to „Königstochter“. Which stays put for all subsequent publications. (I.e. he replaced a term that since it was Latin-derived, German has in common with French, with some old fashioned sounding German term - meaning literally „King’s son“ and „King’s daughter“ that was actually not used before - though it’s partly inspired by Norse mythology, Jacob being a big fan of same - and subsequently got regarded as THE fairy tale term for young royals. In real life, people kept saying Prinz and Prinzessin.
Fürst (and the female, Fürstin) - is a generic term for high ranking person of the nobility. Can be used for, say, Dukes and monarchs alike, is used mostly, but not exclusively, for high ranking nobles actually having political power. For example, when the Prussian ambassador in Vienna gives his report on MT, he speaks of her in the German MT biography I‘ve read the report quoted in as „diese Fürstin“, „this princess“, which incidentally also avoids settling on „Archduchess“, „Queen“ or „Empress“. Posa in DON CARLOS says „Ich kann nicht Fürstendiener sein“ when in English he‘d have to be specific whether he doesn‘t see himself as able to serve a prince, a king or a queen, and probably has to settle for saying he can‘t be a courtier, which is part of what he means but only part.