سپاهی

See also: سپاہی

Ottoman Turkish

سپاهی

Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian سِپَاهِی (sipāhī, “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 (timar sipahisi, “Timariot, yeoman of a small fief”)
• زعامت سپاهیسی (zeʼâmet 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] (in French), 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

From سپاه (sipāh / sepâh, “army”) +‎ ـی (-ī / -i, noun forming suffix).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): /si.paː.ˈhiː/

 

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

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

Noun

سپاهی • (sipāhī / sepâhi) (plural سپاهیان (sipāhīyān / sepâhiyân), Tajik spelling сипоҳӣ)

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

Descendants

• → Baluchi: سپاہی, سپائی
• → Bengali: সিপাহী (śipahi), সিপাই (śipai), সেপাই (śepai), সিপাহি (śipahi) — uncommon
  • → Garo: sipai
• → Hindustani: (see there for further descendants)

  Hindi: सिपाही (sipāhī)

  Urdu: سِپاہی (sipāhī)

• → Gujarati: સિપાઈ (sipāī), સિપાહી (sipāhī)
• → Marathi: शिपाई (śipāī)
  • → Malayalam: ശിപായി (śipāyi), ശിപ്പായി (śippāyi)
• → Ottoman Turkish: سپاهی (sipahi) (see there for further descendants)
• → Punjabi:

  Gurmukhi script: ਸਿਪਾਹੀ (sipāhī)

  Shahmukhi script: سِپاہی (sipāhī)