Effendi

Effendi or effendy (Turkish: efendi [eˈfændi]; Ottoman Turkish: افندی, romanized: afandi; originally from Medieval Greek: αφέντης [aˈfendis]) is a title of nobility meaning sir, lord or master, especially in the Ottoman Empire and the Caucasus.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 high ranks, such as bey or pasha.The possessive form efendim (my master) was formerly used by slaves, and is commonplace in formal discourse, when answering the telephone, and can substitute for "excuse me" in some situations (e.g. asking someone to repeat something).[not verified in body] Lucy Mary Jane Garnett wrote in the 1904 work Turkish Life in Town and Country that Ottoman Christians, women, mullahs, sheiks, and princes of the Ottoman royal family could become effendi, a title carrying "the same significance as the French Monsieur" and which was one of two "merely conventional designations as indefinite as our 'Esquire' has come to be [in the United Kingdom]".[5][6][7][8] The word was widely used as a Greek title for Byzantine nobles as late as 1465, such as in the letters of Cardinal Bessarion concerning the children of Thomas Paleologus.
A Turkish Effendi (1862)
Figurine of an effendi, circa 1770, hard-paste porcelain, height: 10.8 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)
Efendi (disambiguation)Metropolitan Museum of ArtTurkishOttoman TurkishromanizedMedieval GreekmasterAncient GreekOttoman EmpireByzantine EmpiresultanpossessiveslavesOttomanLucy Mary Jane GarnettmullahssheiksOttoman royal familyMonsieurEsquireRepublican TurkishByzantine GreekByzantineBessarionThomas PaleologusMediterraneanMiddle EasternMuhammad AliJordanTurkeyBritish East AfricaGerman East AfricaTanzaniaRwandaCommissioned OfficerKing's African RiflesBritish Colonial Auxiliary ForcesViceroy's Commissioned OfficersBritish Indian ArmyaskarisSchutztruppekaiserBosnia and HerzegovinaIndonesiaMalaysiafirst namePakistanAfghanistanBarakzaiDurranisNasreddinMcCoy TynerInceptionShoghi EffendiʻAbdu'l-BaháUighursByzantine bureaucracy and aristocracyOttoman titlesMustafa Sabri EfendiBrill Publisherspublic domainChisholm, HughEncyclopædia BritannicaGarnett, Lucy Mary JaneG.P. Putnam's SonsCambridge University PressLiddell, Henry GeorgeScott, RobertA Greek–English LexiconPerseus ProjectOnline Etymology Dictionary