spahi

English

Etymology

From French spahi, from Ottoman Turkish سپاهی (sipahi), from Classical Persian (sipāhī, “horseman, soldier”) (> sepoy), from (sipāh, “army”). Doublet of sepoy and sipahi.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈspɑːhiː/

Noun

spahi (plural spahis)

(history) An Ottoman (Turkish empire) cavalryman, especially as recruited under a land-based system.
- 2001, Orhan Pamuk, My Name Is Red, tr. Erdağ M Göknar
  I hear that the great Sadiki Bey illustrated a copy of Strange Creatures, commissioned by an Uzbek spahi cavalryman, for only forty gold pieces.
(history) A soldier in a mainly Arab-recruited cavalry (originally horse, later light armored) regiment in French colonial service in (former/ in name still) Ottoman North African provinces.
- 1913 June–December, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Dancing Girl of Sidi Aissa”, in The Return of Tarzan, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, […], published March 1915, →OCLC, page 86:
  TARZAN’S first mission did not bid fair to be either exciting or vastly important. There was a certain lieutenant of spahis whom the government had reason to suspect of improper relations with a great European power.

Related terms

sepoy
sipahi

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked‌: "Ottoman cavalryman"