Bulgar

Etymology

Borrowed from Persian خواجه (xâje).

Noun

خُوَاجَه (xowâçe)

  1. teacher
    اَولِ اَلِبْ خُواجَه بَلُوى كُawli alıp xowâçe belüwi kü...'s son teacher Alıp's gravestone.

Descendants

  • Chuvash: хуҫа (huś̬a)
  • >? Chuvash: каччӑ (kaččă)

References

  • Erdal, Marcel (1993) Die Sprache der wolgabolgarischen Inschriften (in German), Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, →ISBN, page 164
  • Tekin, Talât (1988) Volga Bulgar kitabeleri ve Volga Bulgarcası [Volga Bulgarian Ephitaphs and Volga Bulgarian Language]‎[3] (in Turkish), Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi, →ISBN, page 190

Ottoman Turkish

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Persian خواجه (xâje).

Noun

خواجه (hoca)

  1. teacher
  2. professor
  3. master
  4. hodja

Descendants

Persian

Dari خواجه
Iranian Persian
Tajik хоҷа

Etymology

Ultimately derived from a Middle Indo-Aryan reflex of Sanskrit उपाध्याय (upādhyāya, teacher; preceptor; spiritual adviser), via Central Asian intermediaries.[1][2] Various Middle Indo-Aryan reflexes are attested from all stages, including Maharastri Prakrit 𑀉𑀯𑀚𑁆𑀛𑀸𑀅 (uvajjhāa), but the Central Asian loaning source most closely resembles an unattested *𑀯𑀸𑀚𑁆𑀛𑀸𑀅 (*vājjhāa) — matching Sindhi واجهو (vājho, Hindu schoolteacher), cf. also Tamil வாத்தியார் (vāttiyār, teacher; instructor; family priest). The initial aspiration in Classical Persian خواجه (xwāja) is also found in Khwarezmian خواجیک (xwʾjyk /⁠xwājīk⁠/, venerated man) and Chinese 和尚 (héshàng, Buddhist monk) (see more there).

Pronunciation

 

Readings
Classical reading? xwāja
Dari reading? xāja
Iranian reading? xâje
Tajik reading? xoja

Noun

خواجه (xâje) (plural خواجه‌ها (xâje-hâ) or خواجگان (xâjegân))

  1. lord, master, owner
  2. (archaic) dignitary, gentleman
    Synonyms: مهتر (mehtar), بزرگ (bozorg), سید (seyyed), آقا (âqâ)
  3. (archaic) wealthy man
    Synonyms: مالدار (mâldâr), ثروتمند (servatmand)
  4. (archaic) a polite form of address of a man, mister
  5. Khwajah, vizier
    • 11th century, Abu'l-Fadl Bayhaqi, Tarikh-i Bayhaqi
      چون حسنک بیامد، خواجه بر پای خاست. چون او این مَکرمُت بکرد، همه – اگر خواستند یا نه – بر پای خاستند. بو سهل زوزنی بر خشم خود طاقت نداشت؛ برخاست، نه تمام و بر خویشتن می ژکید. احمد او را گفت: در همه کارها ناتمامی. وی نیک از جای بشد.
      When Hasanak came in, Khwaja [Ahmad] stood up. Since he performed this act of respect, everyone – whether they wanted or not – stood up. Bu Sahl Zawzani couldn't contain his anger. He stood up, but not completely, and was grumbling to himself. [Khwaja] Ahmad said to him: "In all tasks, you perform incompletely." He [Zawzani] became extremely angered.
  6. (colloquial, historical) eunuch
    Synonym: اخته (axte)

Derived terms

Descendants

References

  1. ^ Asatrian, Garnik (2011) “Review: Iranian Loanwords in Syriac (Beiträge zur Iranistik 28) by Claudia A. Ciancaglini”, in Iran and the Caucasus[1], volume 15, number 1/2, page 324
  2. ^ Asatrian, Garnik (2012) “Marginal remarks on the history of some Persian words”, in Iran and the Caucasus[2], volume 16, number 1, page 108

Further reading