Pasha


Pasha was a high 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 pasha. 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 and bey, which were established in usage much earlier, the title pasha came into Ottoman usage right after the reign of Osman I, 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 / bash, itself from Old Persian pati- 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. According to Josef W. Meri and Jere L. Bacharach, the word is "more than likely derived from the Persian Padishah". 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, meaning 'agent, tax collector'.
Some theories have posited a Turkish or Turkic origin of the word, claiming it derived from başağa, 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, which is cognate with Persian bačče. 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. 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.

Role in Ottoman and Egyptian political system

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 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 Muhammad Ali and his successors|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, 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.
It was also part of the official style of the Kapudan Pasha.
Pashas ranked above Beys and Aghas, but below Khedives and Viziers.
Three grades of Pasha existed, distinguished by the number of horse tails or peacock tails that the bearers were entitled to display on their standard as a symbol of military authority when on campaign. Only the sultan himself was entitled to four tails, as sovereign commander in chief.
The following military ranks entitled the holder to the style Pasha :
Ottoman and Egyptian authorities conferred the title upon both Muslims and Christians without distinction. They also frequently gave it to foreigners in the service of the Ottoman Empire, or of the Egyptian Khedivate, e.g. Hobart Pasha. In an Egyptian context, the Abaza Family is known as "the family of the pashas" for having produced the largest number of nobles holding this title under the Muhammad Ali dynasty and was noted in Egyptian media in 2014 as one of the main "families that rule Egypt" to this day, and as "deeply rooted in Egyptian society and... in the history of the country."

Honorific

As an honorific, the title pasha was an aristocratic title and could be hereditary or non-hereditary, stipulated in the firman issued by the Sultan carrying the tughra. The title did not bestow rank or title to the wife nor was any religious leader elevated to the title. In contrast to western nobility titles, where the title normally is added before the given name, Ottoman titles followed the given name. In contacts with foreign emissaries and representatives, holders of the title Pasha were often referred to as "Your Excellency".
The sons of a Pasha were styled Pashazada or Pashazade.
In modern Egyptian and Levantine Arabic, it is used as an honorific closer to "Sir" than "Lord", especially by older people. Among Egyptians born since the Revolution of 1952 and the abolition of aristocratic titles, it is considered a highly formal way of addressing one's male peers.
The Grand National Assembly of Turkey abolished the title Paşa, along with all other titles and nicknames, through Law No. 2590, known as the Law on the Abolition of Titles and Nicknames, enacted on November 26, 1934 Although Paşa title is no longer an official title, generals of the Turkish Armed Forces are often unofficially referred to as Paşa along with General by the Turkish public and media.
In the French Navy, "pasha" is the nickname of the Commanding Officer, similar to the term "skipper" in the Anglophone navies.

List of notable pashas

The inclusion criterion is that the person held the rank of "pasha" in his society