effendi n : a former Turkish term of respect; especially for government officials

English

Etymology

From efendı, from αφεντη, vocative of αφεντης, from Greek αὐθέντης ‘lord, master’.

Pronunciation

/ɛˈfɛndi/

Noun

1. An educated or well-respected man in an eastern Mediterranean or Arab country; often used as a title of respect or courtesy in Turkey or a former Ottoman territory.

Translations

This article is about the Turkish title. For the cyberpunk novel, see Arabesk trilogy.

Effendi or Efendi (Arabic: أفندي ;Persian: آفندی ) (from Turkish Efendi) is a Turkish title meaning a lord or master. It is a title of respect or courtesy, equivalent to the English Sir, in Turkey 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 as Bey or Pasha. It may also indicate a definite office, as Hekim efendi, chief physician to the sultan. 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 the Old Turkic apandi, a title of nobility, since it appears in Old Uyghur.

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 to Bey in Egypt during the period of Muhammad Ali dynasty.

• Effendi is still used as an honorific in Egypt and Turkey, and is the source of the word أفندم؟ effendim?, , a particularly polite way of saying "Pardon me?".

• Effendi (warrant officer) was the highest rank that a Black African could achieve in the British King's African Rifles.

• In Indonesia and Malaysia, "Effendi" can serve as someone's name.

See 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.
• ReadLiterature.com - Definition of Efendi
• A Nation of Empire: The Ottoman Legacy of Turkish Modernity