Etymology

elchi

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Today it means: An envoy, a messenger or an ambassador in Turkic and Persianate contexts, notably the Ottoman Empire and Qajar Iran. Full definition →

Proto-Turkic *ēlči ← Ottoman Turkish ایلچی ← Azerbaijani ایلچی
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The story

  1. Classical Persian · derived fromایلْچِی
  2. Hindustani · borrowed from
  3. Azerbaijani · borrowed fromایلچی
  4. Ottoman Turkish · borrowed fromایلچی
  5. Proto-Turkic · derived from*ēlči
  6. English todayelchi

Ultimately from Proto-Turkic *ēlči, from *ēl (“realm, country”) + *-či (profession suffix), via Ottoman Turkish ایلچی (elçi) or Azerbaijani ایلچی (elçi), or via Hindustani एलची (elcī) / ایلْچی (elcī) through Classical Persian ایلْچِی (ēlčī).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.