Shah

Shāh (; Persian: شاه [ʃɒːh] ) is a royal title meaning 'king' in Persian. Though chiefly associated with the monarchs of Iran, it was also used to refer to the leaders of numerous Persianate societies and non-Islamic kingdoms, such as the Ottoman Empire, the Khanate of Bukhara and the Emirate of Bukhara, the Mughal Empire, the Maratha Empire, the Bengal Sultanate, and various Afghan dynasties, as well as among Gurkhas. With regard to Iranian history, in particular, each ruling monarch was not seen simply as the head of the concurrent dynasty and state, but as the successor to a long line of royalty beginning with the original Persian Empire of Cyrus the Great. To this end, he was more emphatically known as the Shāhanshāh (شاهنشاه, šāhanšāh, 'king of kings' [ˌʃaːhanˈʃaːɦ]) since the Achaemenid dynasty. A roughly equivalent title is Pādishāh (پادشاه, pādišāh, pādšāh, 'master king'), which was most widespread during the Muslim period in the Indian subcontinent.

Etymology

The word descends from Old Persian xšāyaθiya 'king', which used to be considered a borrowing from Median as it was compared to Avestan xšaθra-, 'power' and 'command', corresponding to Sanskrit kṣatra- (same meaning), from which kṣatriya-, 'warrior', is derived. Most recently, the form xšāyaθiya has been analyzed as a genuine, inherited Persian formation with the meaning 'pertaining to reigning, ruling'. This formation with the 'origin' suffix -iya is derived from a deverbal abstract noun *xšāy-aθa- 'rule, ruling, Herrschaft', from the (Old Persian) verb xšāy- 'to rule, reign'. The full, Old Persian title of the Achaemenid rulers of the First Persian Empire was Xšāyaθiya Xšāyaθiyānām or (Middle Persian) Šâhân Šâh, 'King of Kings' or 'Emperor'. This title has ancient Near Eastern or Mesopotamian precedents.