سلطان

Arabic

Suleiman I of the Ottoman Empire

Etymology

From the root س ل ط (s-l-ṭ). Cognates with Aramaic שׁוּלְטָנָא / ܫܘܼܠܛܵܢܵܐ (šulṭānā, “power”) and Hebrew שִׁלְטוֹן (shiltón, “rulership, authority”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sul.tˤaːn/

Noun

سُلْطَان • (sulṭān) m or f (usually uncountable)

1. power, strength
2. rule, dominion
3. authority
   • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 53:23:

     إِنْ هِيَ إِلَّا أَسْمَاءٌ سَمَّيْتُمُوهَا أَنْتُمْ وَآبَاؤُكُم مَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ بِهَا مِن سُلْطَانٍ إِن يَتَّبِعُونَ إِلَّا الظَّنَّ وَمَا تَهْوَى الأَنْفُسُ وَلَقَدْ جَاءَهُم مِن رَبِّهِمُ الهُدَى

     ʔin hiya ʔillā ʔasmāʔun sammaytumūhā ʔantum wa-ʔābāʔukum mā ʔanzala l-lahu bihā min sulṭānin ʔin yattabiʕūna ʔillā ẓ-ẓanna wa-mā tahwā l-ʔanfusu wa-laqad jāʔahum min rabbihimu l-hudā

     These are but names which you have coined—you and your fathers—for which God has not sent down any authority. They follow nothing but conjectures and the desires of the [lower] soul, while there has already come to them the guidance from their Lord.

4. mandate, authorization
5. proof, evidence, an argument or case against
6. a plea, an allegation, the grounds or basis for one's case being superior
7. justification

Declension

Declension of noun سُلْطَان (sulṭān)

Singular	basic singular triptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	سُلْطَان sulṭān	السُّلْطَان as-sulṭān	سُلْطَان sulṭān
Nominative	سُلْطَانٌ sulṭānun	السُّلْطَانُ as-sulṭānu	سُلْطَانُ sulṭānu
Accusative	سُلْطَانًا sulṭānan	السُّلْطَانَ as-sulṭāna	سُلْطَانَ sulṭāna
Genitive	سُلْطَانٍ sulṭānin	السُّلْطَانِ as-sulṭāni	سُلْطَانِ sulṭāni

Noun

سُلْطَان • (sulṭān) m (plural سَلَاطِين (salāṭīn))

1. sultan

Declension

Declension of noun سُلْطَان (sulṭān)

Singular	basic singular triptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	سُلْطَان sulṭān	السُّلْطَان as-sulṭān	سُلْطَان sulṭān
Nominative	سُلْطَانٌ sulṭānun	السُّلْطَانُ as-sulṭānu	سُلْطَانُ sulṭānu
Accusative	سُلْطَانًا sulṭānan	السُّلْطَانَ as-sulṭāna	سُلْطَانَ sulṭāna
Genitive	سُلْطَانٍ sulṭānin	السُّلْطَانِ as-sulṭāni	سُلْطَانِ sulṭāni
Dual	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	سُلْطَانَيْن sulṭānayn	السُّلْطَانَيْن as-sulṭānayn	سُلْطَانَيْ sulṭānay
Nominative	سُلْطَانَانِ sulṭānāni	السُّلْطَانَانِ as-sulṭānāni	سُلْطَانَا sulṭānā
Accusative	سُلْطَانَيْنِ sulṭānayni	السُّلْطَانَيْنِ as-sulṭānayni	سُلْطَانَيْ sulṭānay
Genitive	سُلْطَانَيْنِ sulṭānayni	السُّلْطَانَيْنِ as-sulṭānayni	سُلْطَانَيْ sulṭānay
Plural	basic broken plural diptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	سَلَاطِين salāṭīn	السَّلَاطِين as-salāṭīn	سَلَاطِين salāṭīn
Nominative	سَلَاطِينُ salāṭīnu	السَّلَاطِينُ as-salāṭīnu	سَلَاطِينُ salāṭīnu
Accusative	سَلَاطِينَ salāṭīna	السَّلَاطِينَ as-salāṭīna	سَلَاطِينَ salāṭīna
Genitive	سَلَاطِينَ salāṭīna	السَّلَاطِينِ as-salāṭīni	سَلَاطِينِ salāṭīni

Descendants

• Maltese: sultan

Borrowings

• → Afar: súltaan
• → Azerbaijani: sultan
• → Georgian: სულთანი (sultani)
• → German: Sultan
  • → Estonian: sultan
  • → Walloon: zultan
• → Hebrew: סוּלְטָן
• → Icelandic: soldán
• → Italian: sultano
• → Japanese: スルターン (surutān)
• → Korean: 술탄 (sultan)
• → Kyrgyz: султан (sultan)
• → Malay: سلطان / sultan
  • Indonesian: sultan
  • → Min Nan: 史丹 (sú-tan)
  • → Tagalog: sultan
• → Maranao: solutan
• → Medieval Latin: sultānus
  • Italian: soltano
    • → Middle High German: soldān
  • Old French: soudan, souldan
    • → Catalan: soldà
    • → Middle English: soudan, soldan
      • English: soldan
    • → Middle Irish: sabdán
      • Irish: sabhdán
    • Sicilian: sudanu
• → Middle Armenian: սուլթան (sultʻan)
  • Armenian: սուլթան (sultʻan)
• → Northern Kurdish: sultan
• → Ottoman Turkish: سلطان (sultan) (see there for further descendants)
• → Persian: سلطان (soltân) (see there for further descendants)
• → Russian: султан (sultan)
• → Swahili: sultani
• → Tajik: султон (sulton)
• → Tausug: sultan
• → Thai: สุลต่าน (sǔn-lá-dtàan)
• → Yiddish: סולטאַן (sultan)

Malay

Alternative forms

• sultan

Etymology

From Arabic سُلْطَان (sulṭān).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sul.taːn/

Noun

سلطان (plural سلطان٢, informal 1st possessive سلطانکو, 2nd possessive سلطانمو, 3rd possessive سلطانڽ)

1. sultan

Further reading

• “سلطان” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.

Ottoman Turkish

Etymology

From Arabic سُلْطَان (sulṭān).

Noun

سلطان • (sultan)

1. sultan

Related terms

• سلطانی (sultani)
• سلطانلق (sultanlık)
• سلطنت (saltanat)

Descendants

• Turkish: sultan

Borrowings

• → Byzantine Greek: σουλτᾶνος (soultânos)
  • Greek: σουλτάνος (soultános)
• → Catalan: sultà
• → Czech: sultán
• → Danish: sultan
• → Dutch: sultan
• → Hungarian: szultán
• → Latvian: sultāns
• → Macedonian: султан (sultan)
• → Middle French: sultan (see there for further descendants)
• → Norwegian: sultan
• → Polish: sułtan
• → Romanian: sultan
• → Serbo-Croatian: sultan / султан
• → Slovak: sultán
• → Slovene: sultan
• → Spanish: sultán
• → Swedish: sultan
  • → Finnish: sulttaani

References

• Kélékian, Diran (1911) “سلطان”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎^[1], Constantinople: Mihran, page 689
• Redhouse, James W. (1890) “سلطان”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎^[2], Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 1072

Persian

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic سُلْطَان (sulṭān).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): [sul.ˈtɑːn]

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [sʊl̪.t̪ʰɑ́ːn]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [sʊl̪.t̪ʰɑ́ːn]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [sʊl̪.t̪ʰɑ́ːn]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [sul̪.t̪ʰɔ́ːn]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [sol̪.t̪ʰɒ́ːn]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [sul̪.t̪ʰɔ́n]

Readings
Classical reading?	sultān
Dari reading?	sultān
Iranian reading?	soltân
Tajik reading?	sulton

Noun

Dari	سلطان
Iranian Persian
Tajik	султон

سُلْطان • (soltân) (plural سلاطین (salâtin) or سلطان‌ها (soltân-hâ))

1. sultan; king, ruler, sovereign

   Synonyms: پادشاه (pâdešâh), شاه (šâh), ملک (malek)

   • c. 1100, Amīr Mu'izzī, “Qaṣīda 41”, in دیوان امیر معزی‎^[3]:

     جز خداوندی که عالم بندهٔ تقدیر اوست
     کیست در عالم‌ که او سلطان سلطان سنجر است

     juz xudāwandē ki ālam banda-yi taqdīr-i ō-st
     kē-st dar ālam ki ō sultān-i sultān sanjar ast

     Save for the Lord to whose decree the world is a slave,
     Who in the world is there to be king over Sultan Sanjar?

     (Classical Persian transliteration)

Related terms

• سلطانه (soltâne, “sultana, queen”)
• سلطانی (soltâni, “sultanic, royal”)

 

Descendants

• → Assamese: চুলতান (sultan)
• → Bengali: সুলতান (śulotan)
• → Gujarati: સુલતાન (sultān)
• Hindustani:
  • Hindi: सुल्तान (sultān)
  • Urdu: سلطان (sultān)
• → Kazakh: сұлтан (sūltan)
• → Marathi: सुलतान (sultān)
• → Old Gujarati: सुरताण (suratāṇa)
  • Gojri: سُلْطَانْ (sultān)
  • Middle Gujarati: सुलताण
    • Gujarati: સરતાણ (sartāṇ), સુલતાન (sultān)
  • Malvi: सल्तान (saltān)
  • Marwari:

    Devanagari script: सुलतांण (sultā̃ṇ), सुलतान (sultān), सुलतांन (sultā̃n)

    Mahajani script: 𑅰𑅒𑅮𑅣𑅧𑅢 (sultnṇ), 𑅰𑅒𑅮𑅣𑅧 (sultn), 𑅰𑅒𑅮𑅣𑅧𑅧 (sultnn)

• → Sindhi: سُلْطانُ
• → Tatar: солтан (soltan)
• → Turkmen: soltan
• → Uyghur: سۇلتان (sultan)
• → Uzbek: sulton

Sindhi

Etymology

From Classical Persian سلطان (sultān), from Arabic سُلْطَان (sulṭān).

Noun

سُلْطانُ • (sultānu) m (Devanagari सुल्तानु)

1. king; emperor

References

• Parmanand, Mewaram (1910) “سلطان”, in Sindhi-English Dictionary, Hyderabad, Sindh: The Sind Juvenile Co-operative Society

Urdu

Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian سلطان (sultān), from Arabic سُلْطَان (sulṭān).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /sʊl.t̪ɑːn/
• Rhymes: -ɑːn

Noun

سُلْطان • (sultān) m (Hindi spelling सुल्तान)

1. sultan

   Synonyms: سَمْراٹ (samrāṭ), بادْشاہ (bādśāh), سَمْراج (samrāj), پادْشاہ (pādśāh), شَہَنْشاہ (śahanśāh)

2. king