Serdar (; from "
Sardar") was a military rank in the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
and a noble rank in
Montenegro
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and
Serbia
, image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg
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. Serdars often served on the borders of the Ottoman Empire. The term is often translated as 'commander' in English texts and originally comes from the
Persian language
Persian ( ), also known by its endonym and exonym, endonym Farsi (, Fārsī ), is a Western Iranian languages, Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian languages, Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian languages, Indo-Iranian subdivision ...
.
The title Serdar was also used in the
Principality of Montenegro and the
Principality of Serbia
The Principality of Serbia () was an autonomous, later sovereign state in the Balkans that came into existence as a result of the Serbian Revolution, which lasted between 1804 and 1817. Its creation was negotiated first through an unwritten agre ...
as an honorary non-noble title below that of ''
vojvoda.''
Janko Vukotić, the former prime minister of Montenegro, held the title of serdar''.''
Uses
* Serdar is a popular male name in
Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
.
* Serdar is a popular male name in
Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ash ...
.
*
Serdar-ı Ekrem or (
Serdar-ı Azam) means the commander-in-chief with the highest rank, and thus, it sometimes refers to the
Grand Vizier
Grand vizier (; ; ) was the title of the effective head of government of many sovereign states in the Islamic world. It was first held by officials in the later Abbasid Caliphate. It was then held in the Ottoman Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Soko ...
of the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
.
* Serdar is also used as a noun (especially to give a nostalgic feeling) with its original meaning (i.e. commander-in-chief) in
Turkish. For example, "Ordunun serdarı yiğit savaşçılarına saldırı emrini verdi" means "The commander-in-chief of the force ordered his brave fighters to attack."
* The word has been adapted in English with its original or related spellings, i.e. serdar, sardar, sirdar, all meaning commander-in-chief of an army. However, these words are not used in everyday terminology.
*
Serdar
Serdar may refer to
* Serdar (given name)
* Serdar (surname) Serdar is a surname of the following notable people:
* Can Serdar (born 1996), German-Turkish football midfielder
* Emerîkê Serdar (1935–2018), Kurdish-Yezidi writer from Armenia
* I ...
, a variant of
Sirdar and
Sardar, a long-standing rank in Western and Southern Asia – was assigned to the
British Commander-in-Chief of the
British-controlled Egyptian Army in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Sirdar resided at the Sirdaria, a three-block-long property in
Zamalek which was also the home of British military intelligence in
Egypt
Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
.
See also
* Serdar or
Gyzylarbat is a city in the Balkan province of
Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ash ...
.
References
Ottoman titles
Government of the Ottoman Empire
Titles in Serbia
Titles in Montenegro
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