As far as I know, prior to the adoption of the title "Emperor" in ancient
China by [Shihuangdi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qin_Shi_Huang) (who
claimed to be the first 皇帝 ( _huangdi_ ), from the titles of [8 ancient godly
beings](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Sovereigns_and_Five_Emperors)), 王
was the sole title for sovereigns. After that, 王 was still used for certain
nobles to some extent (such as [Prince
Wucheng](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huang_Feihu) in China or [Prince Hưng
Đạo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tr%E1%BA%A7n_H%C6%B0ng_%C4%90%E1%BA%A1o) in
Vietnam), who were somewhat akin to European "sovereign princes" (known as
[_Fürst_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%BCrst) in German), such as those
of Monaco or Liechtenstein. 王 was also used by [monarchs of
Korea](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_monarchs_of_Korea), most of whom
didn't claim the title 皇帝. However, I'm not aware of many instances of 王 being
used for "son of the Emperor".

In Japan, an imperial prince is titled 親王. It sort of makes sense that he's
not titled 王子 ("king's child") because we're talking about the _Empire_ , not
the _Kingdom_ , of Japan, but then **皇** 子 ("emperor's child") should also be
a valid alternative given the Emperor of Japan is still titled 天 **皇**
("heavenly emperor").

The [Japanese Wikipedia article on
親王](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%A6%AA%E7%8E%8B) claims (with no sources)
that the title 親王 was adopted in all the Sinophere countries (China, Japan,
Korea, Vietnam), but only lists Japanese and Manchurian 親王's. I'm not
particularly familiar with Korean so I haven't been able to check if there
were 親王 in the [Korean Empire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Empire) as
the article claims, but I'm pretty sure there were only Manchurian 親王's in
China (other 王's were more "kings" than "princes", and even in cases where
they were "princes", they were still titled "sovereign princes" by a Chinese
emperor, they couldn't just suddenly become his "sons"), and there were no
親王's in Vietnam. Most of the time, sons of emperors went by 皇子, or 太子 if they
were crown princes (first in the line of succession to the imperial throne).
In fact 皇子 and 公主, the titles of imperial princes and princesses, have long
come to mean any kinds of princes and princesses (emperors'/kings'/sultans'
sons/daughters, [the husband of a Queen of Great
Britain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Philip,_Duke_of_Edinburgh),
excluding [the wife of a Prince of Great
Britain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diana,_Princess_of_Wales) but including
a [(sovereign) Prince of
Wales](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_of_Wales)) in Vietnamese.

**Main question** : So what's the origin of the title 親王? Given the long
history of the Empire of Japan, would the possibility that the Japanese
adopted this title from the Manchus likely at all? And what is its etymology?
Does it mean "familial 王" or "parental 王"? And how come the word 王, which was
used to refer to "sovereign rulers", came to to refer to "sons of emperors"?
[This Chinese Wikipedia
article](https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%8E%8B%E7%88%B5) claims that the
title 親王 goes all the way back to the [Spring and Autumn
period](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_and_Autumn_period) in China, is
that true?

A related, and even stranger title would be 女王, which definitely comes up in
your typical bilingual dictionary as meaning "queen (regnant)", but it is in
fact also the title of a Princess of Japan (a prince's daughter, as opposed to
his sister who's titled 内親王 and his consort who's titled 親王妃).
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kanji etymology loanwords wago-and-kango
What's the origin of the title 親王?
I won't claim any specifics for Japanese usage, but here's the Chinese answer
from《{{kr:漢}}語大詞典》:

> # 親王
>
> 皇帝或國王近支親屬中封王者。 其名始於 南朝 末期。
>
> **Very paraphrased translation:**
>
> _Those who have been bestowed the title of_ 「王」 _that are close in the
> family tree to the [reigning] sovereign. The title was first seen during the
> latter years of the[Southern
> Dynasties](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_and_Southern_dynasties)._

Whether this answers the question ( _origin of the title..._ ) then rests on
the definition of「王」. If you treat「王」as a title unto itself that is applicable
to China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, without an equivalent English
translation, then I believe this explanation of「親王」is suitable.
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