Padishah

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A supreme monarch's title used historically in Persia and among the Ottoman and Mughal rulers, meaning king of kings or emperor
2. An imperial title borne by sovereign rulers in Persia, the Ottoman realm and the Mughal courts, signifying a paramount king over lesser kings
3. The honorific given to a great emperor or sovereign in several Persian-influenced Asian and Middle Eastern dynasties of the past

Etymology: The title "padishah" is a compound of two parts that Persian has used for centuries: "pad" (protector, lord, master) and "shah" (king). Its literal sense is something like "lord-king" or "protector-king," and in Classical Persian it was simply a royal title for a sovereign ruler. The word passed into English through Ottoman Turkish, the language of the Ottoman court, where "padişah" became the official title of the sultans who ruled a vast empire from Istanbul. European travellers and writers borrowed it to describe the Ottoman sovereign, and over time it came to signal the grandeur of an Eastern monarch. Its use in English is therefore tied less to Persia itself than to the Ottoman rulers who adopted the Persian title and carried it westward.

Synonyms: sultan, emperor, shah