سپاهی

See also: سپاہی

Ottoman Turkish

سپاهی

Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian سپاهی (sipâhi, “soldier, cavalryman”). By surface analysis, سپاه (sipah, “army”) +‎ ـی.

Noun

سپاهی • (sipahi) (plural سپاهیان or سپاهیلر (sipahiler))

1. sipahi, a feudal cavalryman in the Ottoman Turkish army
2. yeoman, a small freeholder who farms his own land

Derived terms

• تیمار سپاهیسی (tımar sipahisi, “yeoman of a small fief”)
• زعامت سپاهیسی (zeʼamet sipahisi, “yeoman of a large fief”)
• سپاهی اوجاغی (sipahi ocağı, “special corps of cavalry”)
• سپاهی اوغلانی (sipahi oğlanı, “special corps of cavalry”)
• سپاهیانه (sipahiyane, “soldierly”)
• سپاهیلك (sipahilik, “military service”)

 

Descendants

• Turkish: sipahi
• → English: sipahi
• → French: spahi
  • → Dutch: spahi
  • → English: spahi
  • → Russian: спаги́ (spagí), спаг (spag)
• → Romanian: spahiu
• → Serbo-Croatian: sìpāh/сѝпа̄х, spàhija/спа̀хија

Further reading

• Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007) “sipahi”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), volume 1, Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 4258
• Hindoglu, Artin (1838) “سپاهی”, in Hazine-i lûgat ou dictionnaire abrégé turc-français‎^[1], Vienna: F. Beck, page 263a
• Kélékian, Diran (1911) “سپاهی”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎^[2], Constantinople: Mihran, page 664
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1687) “Militaris”, in Complementum thesauri linguarum orientalium, seu onomasticum latino-turcico-arabico-persicum, simul idem index verborum lexici turcico-arabico-persici, quod latinâ, germanicâ, aliarumque linguarum adjectâ nomenclatione nuper in lucem editum‎^[3], Vienna, column 1048
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1680) “سپاهی”, in Thesaurus linguarum orientalium, Turcicae, Arabicae, Persicae, praecipuas earum opes à Turcis peculiariter usurpatas continens, nimirum Lexicon Turkico-Arabico-Persicum‎^[4], Vienna, column 2534
• Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “sipahi”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
• Redhouse, James W. (1890) “سپاهی”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎^[5], Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 1037

Persian

Etymology

Derived with a possesive suffix ـی (-i) from سپاه (sepâh, “army”), from Middle Persian spʿh / 𐭮𐭯𐭠𐭧 (spāh), from Parthian *𐭎𐭐𐭀𐭃 (*spāδ), from Proto-Iranian *ćwáHdaH, perhaps from Proto-Indo-Iranian *ćwáHdʰaH, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwéh₁-dʰ-o-h₁ (dual), from *ḱweh₁-, *ḱewh₁- (“to swell, be great”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): [si.pɑː.ˈhiː]

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [sɪ.pʰɑː.ɦíː]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [sɪ.pʰɑː.ɦíː]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [sɪ.pʰɑː.ˈiː]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [si.pʰɔː.jí]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [se.pʰɒː.ɦíː]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [si.pʰɔ.ɦí]

Readings
Classical reading?	sipāhī
Dari reading?	sipāhī
Iranian reading?	sepâhi
Tajik reading?	sipohī

Noun

سِپاهی • (sepâhi) (plural سپاهیان (sepâhiyân))

1. (mostly in historical contexts) soldier
2. cavalryman
3. sepoy
4. IRGC member, pasdaran

Descendants

• → Baluchi: سپاہی, سپائی
• → Bengali: সিপাহী (śipahi)
• → Hindustani:
  • Hindi: सिपाही (sipāhī)
  • Urdu: سِپاہی m (sipāhī)
  • → Gujarati: સિપાહી (sipāhī)
  • → Kannada: ಸಿಪಾಯಿ (sipāyi)
  • → Malayalam: ശിപായി (śipāyi)
  • → Marathi: शिपाई (śipāī)
  • → Indonesian: sipahi
  • → Portuguese: sipae, sipai, sipaio, cipaio
    • → English: sepoy
      • → Dutch: sepoy, sipoy
        • → Indonesian: sepoy
      • → German: Sepoy
      • → Italian: sepoy
      • → Swedish: sepoy
        • → Finnish: sepoy
      • → Turkish: sepoy
    • → French: cipaye
    • → Russian: сипай (sipaj)
      • → Ukrainian: сипай (sypaj)
    • → Spanish: cipayo
      • → Basque: zipaio
  • → Tamil: சிப்பாய் (cippāy)
  • → Telugu: సిపాయి (sipāyi)
• → Ottoman Turkish: سپاهی (sipahi)
  • Turkish: sipahi
  • → French: spahi
    • → Dutch: spahi
    • → English: spahi, sipahi, spahee
    • → Russian: спаги́ (spagí), спаг (spag)
  • → Romanian: spahiu
  • → Serbo-Croatian: sìpāh/сѝпа̄х, spàhija/спа̀хија
• Punjabi: ਸਿਪਾਹੀ (sipāhī)/سِپاہی (sipāhī)