سرعسكر

Ottoman Turkish

Etymology

Borrowed from Persian سرعسکر (sar'askar, “captain, commander”); equivalent to سر (ser, “head”) +‎ عسكر (ʼasker, “soldier”).

Noun

سرعسكر • (serʼasker) (definite accusative سرعسكری (serʼaskeri), plural سرعسكرلر (serʼaskerler))

1. commander in chief, the supreme commander of the armed forces of a country
2. (historical) seraskier, a title formerly given to a vizier who commanded an army

Derived terms

• سرعسكر قپوسی (serʼasker kapısı, “offices of a commander”)
• سرعسكر پاشا (serʼasker paşa, “Minister of War”)
• سرعسكرلك (serʼaskerlik, “quality, rank, or functions of a commander in chief”)
• سرعسكری (serʼaskerî, “quality, rank, or functions of a commander in chief”)

 

Descendants

• Turkish: serasker
• → Armenian: սէրասքէր (sēraskʻēr)
• → English: seraskier
• → Romanian: seraschier

Further reading

• Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007) “serasker”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), volume 1, Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 4152
• Devellioğlu, Ferit (1962) “ser-asker”, in Osmanlıca-Türkçe Ansiklopedik Lûgat‎‎^[1] (in Turkish), Istanbul: Türk Dil Kurumu, page 1126
• Kélékian, Diran (1911) “سرعسكر”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎^[2], Constantinople: Mihran, page 674
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1680) “سرعسكر”, in Thesaurus linguarum orientalium, Turcicae, Arabicae, Persicae, praecipuas earum opes à Turcis peculiariter usurpatas continens, nimirum Lexicon Turkico-Arabico-Persicum‎^[3], Vienna, column 2595
• Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “serasker”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
• Redhouse, James W. (1890) “سرعسكر”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎^[4], Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 1053