Сахиб: История и современное употребление почётного титула

Arabic word meaning "companion", used as honorific title

Sahib or Saheb ('/s//ɑː//h//ɪ//b/; صاحب) is an Arabic title meaning 'companion'. It was historically used for the first caliph Abu Bakr in the Quran. As a loanword, Sahib has passed into several languages, including Persian, Kurdish, Turkish, Azerbaijani, Kazakh, Uzbek, Turkmen, Tajik, Crimean Tatar, Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi, Pashto, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Rohingya and Somali. During medieval times, it was used as a term of address, either as an official title or an honorific. Now, in South and Central Asia, it is almost exclusively used to give respect to someone higher or lower. For example, drivers are commonly addressed as sahib in South Asia and so on. The honorific has largely been replaced with sir. Some shorten sahib to saab.

In Palanpur, the younger sons of the ruling Nawab, and other male descendants in the male line, were styled Sahibzada (personal name) Khan; but the Heir Apparent: Nawabzada (personal name) Khan, Wali ahad Sahib. In Junagadh, younger sons of the ruling Nawab and other male descendants in the male line, were styled ' Sahibzada' and (personal name) Khanji Babi.

Jam Sahib (Gujarati: જામ સાહેબ), is the title of the ruling prince of Nawanagar, now known as Jamnagar in Gujarat, an Indian princely state.

Sahib means "owner" in Arabic and was commonly used in the Indian Sub continent as a courteous term in the way that "Mister" (also derived from the word "master") and "Mrs." (derived from the word "mistress") is used in the English language. It is still used today in the sub continent just as "Mister" and "Mrs." and continues to be used today by English language speakers as a polite form of address. "Sahib" is also appended to the names of holy places associated with the Sikh gurus such as Nankana Sahib, Patna Sahib, Anandpur Sahib. In the British Indian Army, a British officer would address a viceroy's commissioned officer (i. e., a native Indian officer) as "<rank> sahib" or "<name> sahib". In turn Indian soldiers would address British or Indian superiors with this term as a substitute for "sir". This form of address is still retained in the present day army of independent India. The term sahib was applied indiscriminately to any person whether Indian or non Indian. This included Europeans who arrived in the sub continent as traders in the 16th century and hence the first mention of the word in European records is in 1673. Pukka sahib was also a term used to signify genuine and legitimate authority, with pukka meaning "absolutely genuine". Sahiba is the authentic form of address to be used for a female. Under the British Raj, however, the word used for female members of the establishment was adapted to memsahib, a variation of the English word "ma'am" having been added to the word sahib. The same word is also appended to the names of Sikh gurus. The term sahib (normally pronounced saab) was used on P&O vessels which had Indian or Pakistani crew to refer to officers, and in particular senior officers. On P&O Cruises and Princess Cruises vessels the term continued to be used by non Indian/non Pakistani junior officers to refer to the senior deck and engine officers for many years, even when no Indian or Pakistani crew featured in the ship's company.

This title (pl. musāhibān), etymologically the active part. of to associate, or consort (with), means originally companion, associate, friend (the abstract term is musāhabat); not unlike the Hellenistic Greek Philos and the Latin Comes in the Roman empire, it became a title for a favourite (of a Sahib, especially a prince), and such 'personally close' positions as aide de camp, in some princely states even a Minister.

Platts, John T. "Musahib". A Dictionary of Urdu, Classical Hindi, and English.