سلطان

Arabic

Etymology

From the root س ل ط (s l ṭ). Cognates with Aramaic שׁוּלְטָנָא / ܫܘܼܠܛܵܢܵܐ (šulṭānā, “power”) and Hebrew שִׁלְטוֹן (shiltón, “rulership, authority”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /sul.tˤaːn/
Rhymes: -aːn

Noun

سُلْطَان • (sulṭān) m or f (usually uncountable)

power, strength
rule, dominion
authority
- 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 53:23:
  إِنْ هِيَ إِلَّا أَسْمَاءٌ سَمَّيْتُمُوهَا أَنْتُمْ وَآبَاؤُكُم مَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ بِهَا مِن سُلْطَانٍ إِن يَتَّبِعُونَ إِلَّا الظَّنَّ وَمَا تَهْوَى الأَنْفُسُ وَلَقَدْ جَاءَهُم مِن رَبِّهِمُ الهُدَى
  ʔin hiya ʔillā ʔasmāʔun sammaytumūhā ʔantum wa-ʔābāʔukum mā ʔanzala l-lahu bihā min sulṭānin ʔin yattabiʕūna ʔillā ẓ-ẓanna wa-mā tahwā l-ʔanfusu wa-laqad jāʔahum min rabbihimu l-hudā
  These are but names which you have coined—you and your fathers—for which God has not sent down any authority. They follow nothing but conjectures and the desires of the [lower] soul, while there has already come to them the guidance from their Lord.
mandate, authorization
proof, evidence, an argument or case against
a plea, an allegation, the grounds or basis for one's case being superior
justification

Declension

Declension of noun **سُلْطَان** (sulṭān)
singular	basic singular triptote
singular	indefinite	definite	construct
informal	سُلْطَان sulṭān	السُّلْطَان as-sulṭān	سُلْطَان sulṭān
nominative	سُلْطَانٌ sulṭānun	السُّلْطَانُ as-sulṭānu	سُلْطَانُ sulṭānu
accusative	سُلْطَانًا sulṭānan	السُّلْطَانَ as-sulṭāna	سُلْطَانَ sulṭāna
genitive	سُلْطَانٍ sulṭānin	السُّلْطَانِ as-sulṭāni	سُلْطَانِ sulṭāni

Noun

سُلْطَان • (sulṭān) m (plural سَلَاطِين (salāṭīn))

sultan

Declension

Declension of noun **سُلْطَان** (sulṭān)
singular	basic singular triptote
singular	indefinite	definite	construct
informal	سُلْطَان sulṭān	السُّلْطَان as-sulṭān	سُلْطَان sulṭān
nominative	سُلْطَانٌ sulṭānun	السُّلْطَانُ as-sulṭānu	سُلْطَانُ sulṭānu
accusative	سُلْطَانًا sulṭānan	السُّلْطَانَ as-sulṭāna	سُلْطَانَ sulṭāna
genitive	سُلْطَانٍ sulṭānin	السُّلْطَانِ as-sulṭāni	سُلْطَانِ sulṭāni
dual	indefinite	definite	construct
informal	سُلْطَانَيْن sulṭānayn	السُّلْطَانَيْن as-sulṭānayn	سُلْطَانَيْ sulṭānay
nominative	سُلْطَانَانِ sulṭānāni	السُّلْطَانَانِ as-sulṭānāni	سُلْطَانَا sulṭānā
accusative	سُلْطَانَيْنِ sulṭānayni	السُّلْطَانَيْنِ as-sulṭānayni	سُلْطَانَيْ sulṭānay
genitive	سُلْطَانَيْنِ sulṭānayni	السُّلْطَانَيْنِ as-sulṭānayni	سُلْطَانَيْ sulṭānay
plural	basic broken plural diptote
plural	indefinite	definite	construct
informal	سَلَاطِين salāṭīn	السَّلَاطِين as-salāṭīn	سَلَاطِين salāṭīn
nominative	سَلَاطِينُ salāṭīnu	السَّلَاطِينُ as-salāṭīnu	سَلَاطِينُ salāṭīnu
accusative	سَلَاطِينَ salāṭīna	السَّلَاطِينَ as-salāṭīna	سَلَاطِينَ salāṭīna
genitive	سَلَاطِينَ salāṭīna	السَّلَاطِينِ as-salāṭīni	سَلَاطِينِ salāṭīni

Descendants

Maltese: sultan

Borrowings

→ Afar: súltaan
→ Azerbaijani: sultan
→ Georgian: სულთანი (sultani)
→ German: Sultan
- → Estonian: sultan
- → Walloon: zultan
→ Hebrew: סוּלְטָן
→ Icelandic: soldán
→ Italian: sultano
→ Japanese: スルターン (surutān)
→ Korean: 술탄 (sultan)
→ Kyrgyz: султан (sultan)
→ Malay: سلطان / sultan
- Indonesian: sultan
- → Min Nan: 史丹 (sú-tan)
- → Tagalog: sultan
→ Maranao: solutan
→ Medieval Latin: sultānus
- Italian: soltano
  - → Middle High German: soldān
- Old French: soudan, souldan
  - → Catalan: soldà
  - → Middle English: soudan, soldan
    - English: soldan
  - → Middle Irish: sabdán
    - Irish: sabhdán
  - Sicilian: sudanu
→ Middle Armenian: սուլթան (sultʻan)
- Armenian: սուլթան (sultʻan)
→ Northern Kurdish: sultan
→ Old Norse: sultan
→ Ottoman Turkish: سلطان (sultan) (see there for further descendants)
→ Persian: سلطان (soltân) (see there for further descendants)
→ Russian: султан (sultan)
→ Swahili: sultani
→ Tajik: султон (sulton)
→ Tausug: sultan
→ Thai: สุลต่าน (sǔn-lá-dtàan)
→ Yiddish: סולטאַן (sultan)

Malay

Noun

سلطان (plural سلطان-سلطان or سلطان٢)

Jawi spelling of sultan.‎

Ottoman Turkish

Alternative forms

սուլթան (sultan) — Armeno-Turkish

Etymology

From Arabic سُلْطَان (sulṭān).

Noun

سلطان • (sultan)

sultan

Related terms

سلطانی (sultani)
سلطانلق (sultanlık)
سلطنت (saltanat)

Descendants

Turkish: sultan

Borrowings

→ Byzantine Greek: σουλτᾶνος (soultânos)
- Greek: σουλτάνος (soultános)
→ Catalan: sultà
→ Czech: sultán
→ Danish: sultan
→ Dutch: sultan
→ Hungarian: szultán
→ Latvian: sultāns
→ Macedonian: султан (sultan)
→ Middle French: sultan (see there for further descendants)
→ Norwegian: sultan
→ Polish: sułtan
→ Romanian: sultan
→ Serbo-Croatian: sultan / султан
→ Slovak: sultán
→ Slovene: sultan
→ Spanish: sultán
→ Swedish: sultan
- → Finnish: sulttaani

References

Kélékian, Diran (1911), “سلطان”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎^[1] (in French), Constantinople: Mihran, page 689
Redhouse, James W. (1890), “سلطان”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎^[2], Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 1072

Persian

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic سُلْطَان (sulṭān).

Pronunciation

(Classical Persian) IPA^(key): /sul.ˈtaːn/

(Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [sʊl̪.t̪ʰɑ́ːn]
- (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [sʊl̪.t̪ʰɑ́ːn]
- (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [sul̪.t̪ʰɔ́ːn]

(Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [sol̪.t̪ʰɒ́ːn]

(Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [sul̪.t̪ʰɔ́n]

Readings
Classical reading^?	sultān
Dari reading^?	sultān
Iranian reading^?	soltân
Tajik reading^?	sulton

Noun

سُلْطان • (sultān / soltân) (plural سلاطین (salâtin), or سلطان‌ها, Tajik spelling султон)

sultan; king, ruler, sovereign
Synonyms: پادشاه (pâdešâh), شاه (šâh), ملک (malek)
- c. 1100, Amīr Mu'izzī, “Qaṣīda 41”, in دیوان امیر معزی‎^[3]:
  جز خداوندی که عالم بندهٔ تقدیر اوست
  کیست در عالم‌ که او سلطان سلطان سنجر است
  juz xudāwandē ki ālam banda-yi taqdīr-i ō-st
  kē-st dar ālam ki ō sultān-i sultān sanjar ast
  Save for the Lord to whose decree the world is a slave,
  Who in the world is there to be king over Sultan Sanjar?
  (Classical Persian transliteration)

Related terms

سلطانه (soltâne, “sultana, queen”)
سلطانی (soltâni, “sultanic, royal”)

Descendants

→ Assamese: চুলতান (sultan)
→ Bengali: সুলতান (śulotan)
→ Gujarati: સુલતાન (sultān)
→ Hindustani:
Hindi: सुल्तान (sultān)

Urdu: سلطان (sultān)
→ Kazakh: сұлтан (sūltan)
→ Marathi: सुलतान (sultān)
→ Old Gujarati: सुरताण (suratāṇa)
- Gojri: سُلْطَانْ (sultān)
- Middle Gujarati: सुलताण
  - Gujarati: સરતાણ (sartāṇ), સુલતાન (sultān)
- Malvi: सल्तान (saltān)
- Marwari:
  Devanagari script: सुलतांण (sultā̃ṇ), सुलतान (sultān), सुलतांन (sultā̃n)
  Mahajani script: 𑅰𑅒𑅮𑅣𑅧𑅢 (sultnṇ), 𑅰𑅒𑅮𑅣𑅧 (sultn), 𑅰𑅒𑅮𑅣𑅧𑅧 (sultnn)
→ Sindhi: سُلْطانُ
→ Tatar: солтан (soltan)
→ Turkmen: soltan
→ Uyghur: سۇلتان (sultan)
→ Uzbek: sulton

Sindhi

Etymology

From Classical Persian (sultān), from Arabic سُلْطَان (sulṭān).

Noun

سُلْطانُ • (sultānu) m (Devanagari सुल्तानु)

king; emperor

References

Parmanand, Mewaram (1910), “سلطان”, in Sindhi-English Dictionary, Hyderabad, Sindh: The Sind Juvenile Co-operative Society

Urdu

Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian (sultān), from Arabic سُلْطَان (sulṭān).

Pronunciation

(Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /sʊl.t̪ɑːn/
Rhymes: -ɑːn

Noun

سُلْطان • (sultān) m (Hindi spelling सुल्तान)

sultan
Synonyms: سَمْراٹ (samrāṭ), بادْشاہ (bādśāh), سَمْراج (samrāj), پادْشاہ (pādśāh), شَہَنْشاہ (śahanśāh)
king