Pasha

Pasha (Ottoman Turkish: پاشا; Turkish: paşa; Arabic: باشا, romanized: basha) was a high rank, aristocratic title in the Ottoman political and military system, typically granted to governors, generals, dignitaries, and others issued by the Sultan carrying the tughra (imperial seal). Pasha, in one of its various ranks, is equivalent to the British title of Lord. 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. Origin of the word is believed to be derived from the Persian Padishah ( پادشاه ).

The English word pasha comes from Turkish pasha (pāşā; also basha (bāşā)). 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 (sir), which were established in usage much earlier, the title pasha came into Ottoman usage right after the reign of 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 başa still in the 15th century.

According to Online Etymology Dictionary, the Turkish pasha or basha was itself from Turkish baş / bash (باش 'head, chief'), itself from Old Persian pati- ('master', from Proto-Indo-European *poti) and the root of the Persian word shah, شاه. According to Oxford Dictionaries, the Turkish word from which it was borrowed was formed as a result of the combination of the Pahlavi words pati- 'lord', and shah (𐭬𐭫𐭪𐭠). According to Josef W. Meri and Jere L. Bacharach, the word is "more than likely derived from the Persian Padishah" (پادشاه). The same view is held by Nicholas Ostler, who mentions that the word was formed as a shortening of the Persian word padishah. Jean Deny also attributed its origin to padishah, while repeating a suggestion by Gerhard Doerfer that it was influenced by Turkic baskak (bāsqāq), meaning 'agent, tax collector'.

Some theories have posited a Turkish or Turkic origin of the word, claiming it derived from başağa (bāş āghā), which denoted a 'principal elder brother' or 'prince's elder son' in the pre-Ottoman period. According to etymologist Sevan Nişanyan, the word is derived from Turkish beşe (بچّه 'boy, prince'), which is cognate with Persian bačče (بچّه). Some earlier Turkish lexicographers, such as Ahmed Vefik Paşa and Mehmed Salahi, argued it was most likely derived from Turkish başa or Turkish beşe, the latter meaning 'elder brother' and being a title given to some Ottoman provincial officials and janissaries.

As first used in western Europe, the title appeared in writing with an initial b. The English forms bashaw, bassaw, bucha, etc., general in the 16th and 17th century, derive through the medieval Latin and Italian word bassa.^{[citation needed]} Due to the Ottoman presence in the Arab world, the title became used frequently in Arabic, though pronounced basha due to the absence of the /p/ sound in Arabic.

Within the Ottoman Empire, the Sultan had the right to bestow the title of Pasha. Lucy Mary Jane Garnett wrote in the 1904 work Turkish Life in Town and Country that it was the sole "Turkish title which carries with it any definite rank and precedence".

It was through this custom that the title (Egyptian Arabic pronunciation: [ˈbæːʃæ]) came to be used in Egypt, which was conquered by the Ottomans in 1517. The rise to power in Egypt in 1805 by Muhammad Ali, an Albanian military commander, effectively established Egypt as a de facto independent state; however, it still owed technical fealty to the Ottoman Sultan. Moreover, Muhammad Ali harboured ambitions of supplanting the Osman Dynasty in Constantinople (now Istanbul), and sought to style his Egyptian realm as a successor sultanate to the Ottoman Empire. As such, he bore the title of Pasha, in addition to the official title of Wāli, and the self-declared title of Khedive. His successors to the Egyptian and Sudanese throne, Ibrahim, Abbas, Sa'id, and Isma'il also inherited these titles, with Pasha, and Wāli ceasing to be used in 1867, when the Ottoman Sultan, Abdülaziz officially recognised Isma'il as Khedive.

The title Pasha appears originally to have applied exclusively to military commanders and only high ranking family of the sultans, but subsequently it could distinguish any high official, and also unofficial persons whom the court desired to honour.^{[citation needed]}