Serdar (Ottoman rank)

Serdar (Ottoman Turkish: سردار; from "Sardar") was a military rank in the Ottoman Empire and a noble rank in Montenegro and Serbia.^[1] 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.^[2]

The title Serdar was also used in the Principality of Montenegro and the Principality of Serbia 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.
• Serdar is a popular male name in Turkmenistan.
• 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 of the Ottoman Empire.
• 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, 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.

See also

• Serdar or Gyzylarbat is a city in the Balkan province of Turkmenistan.