Pasha - Linguistics

Linguistics

The word pasha entered English from Turkish paşa. Etymologists variously derive the word paşa from the Turkish baş or baş ağa, "head, chief". Old Turkish had no fixed distinction between /b/ and /p/, and the word was spelled başa still in the 15th century. As first used in western Europe, the title appeared in writing with the initial "b". The English forms bashaw, bassaw, bucha etc., general in the 16th and 17th century, derive through the medieval Latin and Italian word bassa. Due to the Ottoman presence in the Arab World, the title became used frequently in Arabic, though pronounced as basha due to the absence of the letter "p" in Arabic.