Pasha


Pasha or Paşa, in older works sometimes anglicized as bashaw, was a higher rank in the Ottoman political and military system, typically granted to governors, generals, dignitaries and others. As an honorary title, Pasha, in one of its various ranks, is similar to a British peerage or knighthood, and was also one of the highest titles in the 20th century Kingdom of Egypt.

Etymology

According to Online Etymology Dictionary, pasha is derived from the earlier basha, itself from Turkish  / bash, itself from Old Persian pati-. According to Oxford Dictionaries, the word has its origins in the mid-17th century, and 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. According to etymologist Sevan Nişanyan, the word is derived from Turkish beşe, which is cognate with Persian bačče. Old Turkish had no fixed distinction between /b/ and /p/, and the word was spelled başa still in the 15th century.
As first used in western Europe, the title appeared in writing with the 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 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, they believed that sleeping with horse tails would help you sleep and grow up manly. or peacock tails, which 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 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 imperial seal "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 Pasha-zade, which means just that.
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 Republican Turkish authorities abolished the title circa the 1930s. Although it is no longer an official title, high-ranking officers of the Turkish Armed Forces are often referred to as "pashas" 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 Anglo-Saxon navies.

List of notable pashas