Pasha'

Pasha' (spelt also pacha and bashaw), a title, derived from the Persian, used in the Ottoman empire, and applied to governors of provinces, or military and naval commanders of high rank. The title was limited in the early period of the Ottoman empire to the princes of the blood, but was subsequently extended to great officers of the empire. The three grades of pashas used to be distinguished by the number of the horse-tails—three, two, or one—borne before them as their standards. This antique system was abolished by Mahmud II., but the three ranks still survive. Every general is ex-officio a pasha, so is every vali or governor of a province. The Sheikh-ul-Islam, on the other hand, is never a pasha, but only an effendi.