چورباجی

Ottoman Turkish

Alternative forms

• چوربه‌جی (çorbacı)

Etymology

چوربا (çorba, “soup”) +‎ ـجی (-cı, “occupational suffix”)

Noun

چورباجی • (çorbacı)

1. (literally) soup vendor
2. (military) official title for a colonel of the Janissaries
3. (rare) official receiver and entertainer of guests in a village
4. conventional title applied Christian members of the rural elite, heads of villages and rich peasants in the Ottoman Empire

Descendants

• Turkish: çorbacı (“soup vendor, Christian member of the rural elite”)
• Bulgarian: чорбаджия (čorbadžija, “wealthy peasant, kulak, boss”)
• Greek: τσορμπατζής (tsormpatzís, “wealthy peasant, village mayor”)
• Armenian: չորպաճի (čʻorpači, “wealthy peasant”) (Western Armenian), Չորբաջյան (Čʻorbaǰyan)
• Macedonian: чорбаџија (čorbadžija, “wealthy peasant, boss”)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic script: чорбаџија (“wealthy peasant”)

  Latin script: čorbadžija

References

• Kélékian, Diran (1911) “چورباجی”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎^[1], Constantinople: Mihran, page 478
• Redhouse, James W. (1890) “چورباجی”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎^[2], Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 735