Sahib

The word Sahib and Sahib comes from the Arabic: صاحب. It means ' owner ' and is used in different languages ​​as a form of address, as for example in the Indian and Pakistani -speaking world, and means something like "Lord."

Especially during the colonial period, the term was prevalent as an address for Europeans and was quite respectfully for a (married ) woman uses, although a feminine form of the noun, Sahiba, exists. In British India also created as a feminine form of salutation the Memsahib or Memsaab ( as a short form of madam / Ma'am Sahib ), which was in colonial Africa, for example, in the Kikuyu to Msabu.

The holy book of Sikhism, the Guru Granth Sahib (literally, teacher book, Lord ), carries the word in the title.

Comparisons

Another form of reverential salutation in the Indian languages ​​is Sri (or Shree or Sree ).