pasha

Pasha was a higher rank in the Ottoman political and military system, typically granted to governors, generals, dignitaries, and others. Pasha was also one of the highest titles in the 20th-century Kingdom of Egypt and it was also used in Morocco in the 20th century, where it denoted a regional official or governor of a district. Etymology The English word pasha comes from Turkish (; also). The Oxford English Dictionary attributes the origin of the English borrowing to the mid-17th century. The etymology of the Turkish word itself has been a matter of debate. Contrary to titles like emir (amīr) and bey (beg), which were established in usage much earlier, the title pasha came into Ottoman usage right after the reign of the Osman I (d. 1324), though it had been used before the Ottomans by some Anatolian Turkish rulers of the same era. Old Turkish had no fixed distinction between /b/ and /p/, and the word was spelled still in the 15th century. According to Online Etymology Dictionary, the Turkish or was itself from Turkish  /  ( 'head, chief'), itself from Old Persian ('master', from Proto-Indo-European *) and the root of the Persian word , . According to Oxford Dictionaries, the Turkish word from which it was borrowed was formed as a result of the combination of the Pahlavi words 'lord', and. According to Josef W. Meri and Jere L. Bacharach, the word is "more than likely derived from the Persian ". The same view is held by Nicholas Ostler, who mentions that the word was formed as a shortening of the Persian word . Jean Deny also attributed its origin to , while repeating a suggestion by Gerhard Doerfer that it was influenced by Turkic, meaning 'agent, tax collector'. Some theories have posited a Turkish or Turkic origin of the word, claiming it derived from, which denoted a 'principal elder brother' or 'prince's elder son' in the pre-Ottoman period. According to etymologist , the word is derived from Turkish ( 'boy, prince'), which is cognate with Persian. Some earlier Turkish lexicographers, such as Ahmed Vefik Paşa and Mehmed Salahi, argued it was most likely derived from Turkish or Turkish , the latter meaning 'elder brother' and being a title given to some Ottoman provincial officials and janissaries.