- Effendi
Effendi or Efendi (Arabic: أفندي "Afandi" ;Persian: آفندی ) (from Turkish "Efendi") is a Turkish title meaning a
lord or master. [Messiri, Sawsan. "Ibn Al-Balad: A Concept of Egyptian Identity".Brill Publishers , 1997. [http://books.google.com/books?id=vb4eAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA5&dq=effendi+turkish+title&lr=&hl=tr&sig=mOI5e8tivGFHO9KnnNSE2MKig3w "page 5"] ] It is a title of respect or courtesy, equivalent to the English Sir, inTurkey and some other Eastern countries. It follows the personal name, when it is used, and is generally given to members of the learned professions, and to government officials who have no higher rank, such asBey orPasha . It may also indicate a definite office, as "Hekim efendi", chief physician to thesultan . The possessive form "efendim" (my master) is used by servants and in formal intercourse.In Ottoman era, the most common title affixed to a personal name after that of
agha was efendi. Such a title would have indicated an "educated gentleman", hence by implication a graduate of a secular state school (rüşdiye), even though at least some if not most of these efendis had once been religious students, or even religious teachers.According to the 1911 "
Encyclopædia Britannica " the word is a corruption of the Greek "aphentes" ("afendis" in Modern Greek's "lord" or "master"). Though it may have rather been derived from theOld Turkic "apandi", a title of nobility, since it appears in Old Uyghur. ["e.g.", Baranovitch at n. 41]Other uses
* Effendi was also considered a man of high education or social standing in an eastern Mediterranean or Arab country. It was a title of Turkish origin, analogous to
Esquire , and junior toBey inEgypt during the period of Muhammad Ali dynasty. [ [http://www.4dw.net/royalark/Egypt/glossary.htm A glossary of titles in Muhammad Ali Dynasty - Definition of Efendi] ] [ [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN1402193262&id=s3le0rgpBG8C&pg=RA1-PA23&lpg=RA1-PA23&ots=xCu6Iq1Gb9&dq=egypt%2Beffendi%2Bturkish%2Btitle&sig=cjRV4qxMVRInCbVdwxFFTw_CkUE#PRA1-PA23,M1 Nassau William Senior. "Conversations and Journals in Egypt and Malta"] ]* Effendi is still used as an honorific in Egypt and Turkey, and is the source of the word أفندم؟ "effendim?", Lang-tr|efendim, a particularly polite way of saying "Pardon me?".
* Effendi (
warrant officer ) was the highest rank that a Black African could achieve in the BritishKing's African Rifles .* In
Indonesia andMalaysia , "Effendi" can serve as someone's name.* In
Bosnia and Herzegovina Effendi refers to Muslim clerics.ee also
*
Ottoman titles
*Agha
*Bey
*Pasha Notes
References
*Baranovitch, Nimrod. "From the Margins to the Center." "China Quarterly" 175: 726-750 . Cambridge Univ. Press, 2003.
*Drompp, Michael. "Tang China And The Collapse Of The Uighur Empire: A Documentary History". Brill Academic Publishers, 2004.
* [http://www.readliterature.com/glossary.htm ReadLiterature.com - Definition of Efendi]
* [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0520225260&id=d5LAxdb53t4C&pg=PA299&lpg=PA299&dq=efendi%2Bis%2Btitle&sig=T7RgaAgIWHaW7Js1mUjYW0i7SH0 A Nation of Empire: The Ottoman Legacy of Turkish Modernity]
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