What is the meaning of "Mudir Sahib"?
Source: The Road to Oxiana by Robert Byron
Source: The Road to Oxiana by Robert Byron
Persian, Dari, Urdu: Mudir Sahib
- Thread starter Yasmeen El Araby
- Start date
Depending on the context, it could mean a number of things, e.g editor, manager, administrator etc
Yes, he is a manager (probably of a place), but what does Sahib mean?
I think Sahib is a title or a polite form of address.
As @sound shift has said, it is a polite form to address a male (in Urdu) and is equivalent to Mr. You will know its origins are in Arabic.
I am not sure if it is used in Persian in the same sense as in Urdu.
I believe you are right, nevertheless I thought it worth pointing out particularly as in the transliteration you cannot tell which s and which h you have and the fact that it isn't used in quite the same sense might make one suspicious that the fact it sounds like صاحب is a coincidence
It depends upon the language. Persophones would better be able to explain to you the extent to which مدیر I.e. mudeer is used in Persian but in Turkish the usage of müdür is quite expansive extending from a principal to a manager or a Director. In Arabic the usage is also quite varied and can be used for any bigshot akin to how in english we use the term boss or in Spanish Jefe. In Urdu however, from experience I've only ever heard the term be used for editors. I may be wrong but such has been my personal experience. The female equivalent would be Mudeerah.
As for SaaHib I have not yet heard it be used in Persian in the manner that you have indicated above. Are you certain that the book isn't just the work of an orientalist who likes missing terminology as many of them do?
As for SaaHib I have not yet heard it be used in Persian in the manner that you have indicated above. Are you certain that the book isn't just the work of an orientalist who likes missing terminology as many of them do?
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Thanks a lot. Since the text is about an incident that took place in Afghanistan, I found that in Pashto, Sahib means Mr. and Mudeer means director, so it is Mr. Director. I hope that if there is anyone here who knows Pashto to confirm this meaning to me.
I would suggest to you that "SaaHib" would be used in Pashto in the same sense as it is used in Urdu.
I can confirm that SaaHib is used by Dari speakers whether this has something to do with their contact with Urdu-phones is a moot point. My personal inkling is that it has more to do with Classical Persian. Similarly SaaHib is also used in Pashto. In Afghanistan it is a commonly understood term much as in Egypt they use استاذ for Mr far more than they do say in the Gulf.