Sahib
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AnnaFrance
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{{for|the Royal Navy submarine|HMS Sahib (P212)}}
'''Sahib''' ([[Urdu language|Urdu]]: ''' صاحب ''') (traditionally {{pronEng|ˈsɑːɪb}} or {{IPA|/ˈsɑːb/}} in English, now often {{IPA|/səˈhiːb/}}) is a [[South Asia]]n term of respect, meaning Sir, master or lord, used in several languages including [[Hindi]]-[[Urdu]] ([[Hindustani language|Hindustani]]), [[Bengali language|Bengali]] and [[Marathi]]. It has also been translated as: grace or, as in Sikh religion, "Guru's honor." It comes from the Arabic ''sahib'' صاحب, originally "friend, companion" (from ''sahiba'' صحب "he accompanied"). Its feminine form is '''sahiba'''.
==Princely styles==
In [[British Raj|British India]] in feudal and colonial times, Sahib was also a formal style, used on its own or as an additional title, for native aristocrats, including rulers of some [[princely state]]s and/or certain members of their dynasties. John Farr was the founder of this tradition.
===Combined ruler styles===
(This list may well be incomplete; [[gun salute]]s mentioned are as in 1947, some may be the result of one or more promotions)
*'''[[Maharaja]] ''Jam'' Sahib''' was unique to the rather major princely state (13-gun salute) of [[Nawanagar]]
*'''Maharaja ''Raj'' Sahib''' of the rather minor Gujurati salute states of [[Dhrangadhra-Halvad]] (13-gun salute) and ''Maharana Raj Sahib'' of [[Wankaner]] (11-gun salute)
*'''Maharaja ''Rana'' Sahib''' of the rather major princely state (13-gun salute) [[Porbandar]]
*[[Thakur sahib]] was significantly rarer and higher than Thakur (often below the status of princely state, never a gun salute), being used for several minor [[salute state]]s (9 guns, the lowest class in India, until independence excluded from the style ''His Highness''): [[Dhrol]], [[Limbdi]], [[Palitana]] and [[Rajkot]]
===Subsidiary ruler styles===
In various dynasties, members of certain genealogical rank were awarded various combinations of additional styles, ''in se'' not their rank, which may include sahib. This could even happen in a Muslim dynasty, e.g. sons of the ruling Nawab of [[Junagadh]] used [[Nawabzada]] before their personal name, then [[Khanji]] and the father's name, finally Sahib.
Again this could be combined titles:
*'''Sahib-i-Jah''' "Lord, or Possessor of Dignity" was a title of the ruling Nawab of [[Baoni]].
===Non-Indian ruler title===
The ruling Bey of Tunis, an Arabo-Barbaresque under Ottoman [[suzerainty]] in North Africa, also known as 'regency' since the French protectorate, used the style ''Basha Bay Tunis, '''Sahib al-Mamlaka''' at-Tunisiyya'' ("Pasha Bey of Tunis, Lord of the Tunisian Realm"; in French: ''Bey de Tunis, Seigneur de la Régence de Tunis''), suggesting their realm was at par with that of a [[Malik]] (Arabic for King), until the last incumbent changed it in 1956 (till 25 July 1957) in "King (Padshah) of the Tunisians and [[Commander of the Faithful]]."
===Derived non-ruling princes titles===
====Sahibzada====
This derivation using the Persian suffix ''-zada(h)'', literally 'son (or further male descendant; compare [[Shahzada]]) of a Sahib', was also (part of) the formal style for some [[prince of the blood|princes of the blood]] of Muslim dynasties, e.g.:
*the sons of a ruling [[Nawab of Arcot]] (the head of the family; [[political pensioner]]s, the only princely title still recognized by the Indian Republic) are styled: ''Sahibzada'' (personal name) [[Khan (title)|Khan Bahadur]], ''not'' Nawabzada (literally 'son of the Nawab').
*in [[Bahawalpur]], in Pakistan, the younger sons of the ruling Nawab/[[Amir]] are styled: ''Sahibzada'' (personal name) Khan Abassi; but the Heir Apparent: Nawabzada (personal name) Khan Abassi, [[Wali Ahad Bahadur]]
*in [[Baoni]], the younger sons and other male descendants of the ruling Nawab, in the male line, were styled ''Sahibzada'' (personal name) Khan Bahadur, while the Heir Apparent was: Nawabzada (personal name) Khan, Wali Ahad Bahadur; either could be personally promoted to Nawab
*in [[Bhopal]], the grandsons of the ruling Nawab were styled: ''Sahibzada'' (personal name) Khan, while the Heir Apparent was the Wali Ahad Bahadur, the younger sons: Nawab (personal name) Khan Bahadur
*in [[Jaoroa]], more distant male relatives of the ruling Nawab then the sons (who were Nawabzada) were styled: ''Sahibzada'' (personal name) Khan
*in [[Khudadad]], Tippu Sultan's Muslim empire, the grandsons and other male descendants of the sovereign [[Padshah bahadur]] were styled: ''Sahibzada'' (personal name), until in 1860 the colonial Indian Government extended to them the existing style for sons of the ruling Nawab: Shahzada (personal name) ''Sahib''
*in [[Malerkotla]], where the Heir Apparent was Nawabzada (personal name) Khan Bahadur, the younger sons of the ruling Nawab were styled: ''Sahibzada'' (personal name) Khan Bahadur
*in [[Savanur]], where sons of the ruling Nawab were Nawabzada, the other male descendants in the male line: ''Sahibzada'' (personal name) '''Khan Sahib''', and the more remote male descendants of the ruler: [[Sardar]] (personal name) ''Khan Sahib''.
This could be further combined, e.g.:
*in [[Hyderabad state|Hyderabad]], the great, mainly Muslim state of the [[Nizam]], every son of the ruler was fully styled [[Walashan Nawab]] (personal title), '''Sahibzada Mir''' (personal name) Khan Bahadur; in the case of the Heir Apparent, all this was followed by The Prince of [[Berar]], with the style of [[His Highness]], normally reserved for ruling princes with at least an 11 (later 9) guns-salute;
*in [[Loharu]], where the Heir Apparent was Nawabzada Mirza (personal name) Khan, both the younger sons, and male descendants, of a ruling Nawab, in the male line, were styled: '''Sahibzada Mirza''' (personal name) Khan.
*in [[Murshidabad]] (present title-seat of the royal house of [[Bengal]]), the other sons and male descendants of the reigning Nawab, in the male line: '''Sahibzada Sayyid''' (personal name) Mirza;
*in [[Sachin]], the grandsons and other male descendants of the ruling Nawab, in the male line were styled: '''Sahibzada Sidi''' (personal name) Khan Bahadur, while the [[Heir Apparent]] was Nawabzada Sidi (personal name) Khan Bahadur, Wali Ahad Sahib, and the other sons: Nawabzada Sidi (personal name) Khan Bahadur.
====Wali-ahad Sahib====
*In [[Palanpur]], the younger sons of the ruling Nawab, and other male descendants in the male line, were styled ''Sahibzada'' (personal name) Khan; but the Heir Apparent: Nawabzada (personal name) Khan, ''Wali-ahad Sahib''.
==Colonial and modern use==
"Sahib" means "friend" or "master" in Arabic and was commonly used in the Sub-continent as a courteous term in the way that "Mr." (also derived from the word "master") and "Mrs." derived from the word "mistress") is used in the English language. It is still used today in the Sub-continent just as "Mr." and "Mrs." continue to be used today by English language speakers as a polite form of address.
The term "Sahib" was applied indiscriminately to any person whether Indian or Non-Indian. This included Europeans who arrived in the Sub-continent as traders in the 16th Century and hence the first mention of the word in European records is in 1673.
"Sahiba" is the authentic form address to be used for a female. Under the [[British raj]] however, the word used for female members of the establishment was adapted to '''memsahib''' a corruption of the English word "ma'am" which was added to the word "sahib").
The same word is also appended to the names of [[Sikh]] [[guru]]s.
==Musahib==
This title (pl. ''musāhibān''), etymologically the active part. of 'to associate, or consort (with), means originally companion, associate, friend (the abstract term is ''musāhabat''); not unlike the Hellenistic Greek [[Philos]] and the Latin [[Comes]] in the Roman empire, it became a title for a favourite (of a Sahib, especially a prince), and such 'personally close' positions as [[aide-de-camp]], in some princely states even a Minister.
==Other compound titles==
*[[Khan sahib]]
==Sources and references==
*[http://4dw.net/royalark/ RoyalArk - see each present country]
*[http://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/contextualize.pl?p.6.platts.1888585 Platts dictionary- here Musahib]
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[[Category:Titles in India]]
[[Category:Titles in Pakistan]]
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