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 comes from persian languge.[2]
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-controlledEgyptian 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.