Vua The general Vietnamese term for "ruler" was
vua (𪼀). There is no Chinese character for this term and it only exists in its written form as a
chữ Nôm character. The word
vua originates from Proto-Vietic and means "father; chief; man".
Vua contains connotations of rulership as well as familial kinship, combining the meaning of the Chinese originated word for "king" (
vương) with "pater familias" (
bó). Some emperors such as
Lê Lợi (1428–1433) and
Lê Thánh Tông (1460–1497) preferred being called
vua while they were still living. During the
Lê dynasty (1428–1789), the Chinese style title for "emperor" (
hoàng đế) was mostly used during the ceremony in which the posthumous imperial name was bestowed upon the deceased emperor. As a
vua, the Viet ruler was expected to be more hands on with their governance than their Chinese counterpart, and Viet peasants were more inclined to blame him directly for their misfortunes than in China. However the role of
vua as a more intimate and native term has been questioned by Liam C. Kelley, who suggests that the difference between
vương and
vua may simply be the result of a modern political argument seeking to demonstrate that Vietnam was Southeast Asian rather than Chinese.
Vua was not used exclusively to the exclusion of other titles or applied only to Viet rulers. The
Lao king
Anouvong was referred to as both
quoc vuong (Ch.
guowang; king of a state) as well as
vua.
Nha vua, meaning "house head" or "monarch", was a common appellation for the Viet emperor and was also used for Anouvong. The king of
Siam,
Rama III, was called
vua as well as
Phat vuong (Buddha king). The title used by
Phùng Hưng (? – 789/791), 布蓋大王, may have been an early representation of
vua. The latter two characters, 大王, mean "great king" in Chinese. However the first two characters
bùgài (布蓋) do not mean anything coherent in Chinese. They have been translated into the Vietnamese expressions
bo cái or
vua cái.
Bo cái dai vuong means "the Great King who is Father and Mother to his people" whereas
vua cái dai vuong would simply be "great king" repeated twice, first in Vietnamese and then in Chinese. It was transcribed in the 15th-century Buddhist scripture
Phật thuyết đại báo phụ mẫu ân trọng kinh as
sībù (司布); in
Middle Vietnamese (16th–17th centuries) as
ꞗua or
bua; becoming
vua in Early Modern Vietnamese (18-19th centuries) such as recorded by
Alexis-Marie de Rochon's
A Voyage to Madagascar and the East Indies.
Hoàng đế Hoàng đế (皇帝), meaning "emperor", is a
Sino-Vietnamese title borrowed from Chinese (
huangdi). Like Chinese emperors, Viet rulers used the title
hoàng đế and
thiên tử (天子), meaning "son of heaven". The poem
Nam quốc sơn hà by
Lý Thường Kiệt (1019–1105) contains a line calling the Viet ruler
nam đế (emperor of the south).
Minh Mạng was thrice referred to as
Đại Hoàng đế ("great emperor"). Minh Mạng referred to himself as
Đại Nam Quốc Đại Hoàng đế (great emperor of the great southern land) and insisted that he be addressed by foreign courts as
Đức Hoàng đế (virtuous emperor) rather than
Vương . This was likely due to his ideological leanings and predilection for Sinic culture. He also insisted that other countries use Chinese in official communications. These demands great offended other courts, especially Rama III. The mother of the crown prince was called
Hoàng Thái Hậu (Great Empress).
Vương While Viet rulers were called
vua or
hoàng đế on most occasions, they were referred to as
vương (王), a Sino-Vietnamese title for "king", in official communications with Chinese dynasties. Almost all Viet rulers adopted some sort of tributary relationship with the imperial dynasties of China. The relationship was symbolic and had no effect on Vietnam's management. However, the Viet ruler would style themselves as "king" (
vương) when communicating with China's rulers while using
hoàng đế to address their own subjects or other Southeast Asian rulers. Even during the
Nguyễn dynasty when Viet rulers such as Minh Mạng referred to themselves as emperors especially towards other Southeast Asian courts, Viet embassies to China presented their ruler as the "king of the state of Vietnam". Internally, the Nguyễn saw their relationship with the
Qing dynasty as that of equal countries. In 1710,
Nguyễn Phúc Chu was called
Dai Viet quoc vuong (king of the great Viet state). In 1834,
Minh Mạng called the
Cambodian king
phien vuong (barbarian king).
Chúa Chúa (主), meaning prince, governor, lord, or warlord, was a title that was applied to the
Trịnh lords and
Nguyễn lords. His great-grandfather and predecessor
Lý Nhân Tông (r. 1072–1127), a great patronizer of the Buddhist sangha, in his stelae inscription erected in 1121, compared himself and his accomplishments with ancient rulers of the Indian subcontinent near the time of
Gautama Buddha, particularly king
Udayana and emperor
Aśoka.
Cham titles Cham rulers of the former kingdom of Champa in present-day Central and Southern Vietnam used many titles, mostly derived from Hindu Sanskrit titles. There were prefix titles, among them,
Jaya and
Śrī, which
Śrī (His glorious, His Majesty) was used more commonly before each ruler's name, and sometimes
Śrī and
Jaya were combined into
Śrī Jaya[monarch name]. Royal titles were used to indicate the power and prestige of rulers:
raja-di-raja (king of kings),
maharajadhiraja (great king of kings),
arddharaja (vice king/junior king). After the fall of
Vijaya Champa and the
Simhavarmanid dynasty in 1471, all Sanskrit titles disappeared from Cham records, due to southern
Panduranga rulers styled themselves as
Po (native Cham title, which also means "King, His Majesty, Her Majesty"), and
Islam gradually replaced
Hinduism in post-1471 Champa. == Ancient period ==