Khawaja (

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

: خواجه ''khvâjəh'') is an honorific title used across the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth descr ...

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...

and

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

, particularly towards Sufi teachers. It is also used by

Kashmiri Muslims Kashmiri Muslims are ethnic Kashmiris who practice Islam and are native to the Kashmir Valley in Indian-administered Kashmir. Quote: "Jammu and Kashmir: Territory in northwestern India, subject to a dispute between India and Pakistan. It has ...

and the

Mizrahi Jews Mizrahi Jews ( he, יהודי המִזְרָח), also known as ''Mizrahim'' () or ''Mizrachi'' () and alternatively referred to as Oriental Jews or ''Edot HaMizrach'' (, ), are a grouping of Jewish communities comprising those who remained ...

—particularly

Persian Jews Persian Jews or Iranian Jews ( fa, یهودیان ایرانی, ''yahudiān-e-Irāni''; he, יהודים פרסים ''Yəhūdīm Parsīm'') are the descendants of Jews who were historically associated with the Persian Empire, whose successor ...

and

Baghdadi Jews The former communities of Jewish migrants and their descendants from Baghdad and elsewhere in the Middle East are traditionally called Baghdadi Jews or Iraqi Jews. They settled primarily in the ports and along the trade routes around the Indian ...

. The word comes from the Iranian word ''khwāja'' (

Classical Persian Persian (), also known by its endonym Farsi (, ', ), is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken and u ...

: ''khwāja'';

Dari Dari (, , ), also known as Dari Persian (, ), is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari is the term officially recognised and promoted since 1964 by the Afghan government for the Persian language,Lazard, G.Darī ...

''khājah''; Tajik ''khoja''). In

, the title roughly translates to 'Lord' or 'Master'. The Ottoman Turkish pronunciation of the Persian خواجه gave rise to ''hodja'' and its equivalents such as '' hoca'' in

modern Turkish Turkish ( , ), also referred to as Turkish of Turkey (''Türkiye Türkçesi''), is the most widely spoken of the Turkic languages, with around 80 to 90 million speakers. It is the national language of Turkey and Northern Cyprus. Significant smal ...

, ''hoxha'' in Albanian, ''xoca'' (''khoja'') in Azerbaijani, ''hodža'' in Bosnian, ''χότζας'' (''chótzas'') in

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

, ''hogea'' in Romanian, and ''хоџа'' in Serbian. Other spellings include ''khaaja'' (

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

) and ''koja'' ( Javanese). The name is also used in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

and Sudan to indicate a person with a foreign nationality or foreign heritage.

Etymology

Ultimately derived from a Middle Indo-Aryan reflex of

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

br>उपाध्याय
(upādhyāya, “teacher; preceptor; spiritual adviser”), via Central Asian intermediaries.Various Middle Indo-Aryan reflexes are attested from all stages, including Maharashtri Prakrit 𑀉𑀯𑀚𑁆𑀛𑀸𑀅 (uvajjhāa), but the Central Asian loaning source most closely resembles an unattested *𑀯𑀸𑀚𑁆𑀛𑀸𑀅 (*vājjhāa) — matching Sindhi واجهو‎ (vājho, “Hindu schoolteacher”). The initial aspiration in

خواجه (xwāja) is also found in Khwarezmian خواجیک‎ (xwʾjyk /xwājīk/, “venerated man”) and

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

和尚 (héshàng, “Buddhist monk”).

Gallery

File:Lescostumespopul00osma.pdf, page=99, Hodja of Shkodra, from ''Les costumes populaires de la Turquie en 1873'', published under the patronage of the Ottoman Imperial Commission for the

1873 Vienna World's Fair ) , building = Rotunda , area = 233 Ha , invent = , visitors = 7,255,000 , organized = , cnt = , org = , biz = , country = Austria-Hungary , city ...

File:Lescostumespopul00osma.pdf, page=137, Hodja of Salonika, today's

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

(first on the right, with the

Hakham Bashi ''Haham Bashi'' (chachampasēs) which is explained as "μεγάλος ραβίνος" or "Grand Rabbi". * Persian: khākhāmbāšīgarī is used in the Persian version of the Ottoman Constitution of 1876. Strauss stated that there was a possibil ...

of Salonika on the left and a Monastir town dweller in the middle), from ''Les costumes populaires de la Turquie en 1873'', published under the patronage of the Ottoman Imperial Commission for the 1873 Vienna World's Fair

References

{{Surname Islamic honorifics Islamic Persian honorifics Islamic Urdu honorifics Titles Turkish words and phrases Persian words and phrases Bengali words and phrases Albanian words and phrases

Etymology

Gallery

See also

References