mirza

plural mirzas

1. historicalAn educated man in India or Iran (Persia); an official, a clerk.First known use 16th c.

   The same success attended the other mirzas and emirs in their excursions.

   1788, Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, VI.65

   1 more example

   This he presented to the Khan of Puhra, who called upon his mirza, or clerk, to read it aloud.

   1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society, published 2010, page 46

plural Mirzas

1. A title denoting the rank of a high nobleman or prince, signifying a male-line descent and relationship to the Imperial Families of Turkey, Persia and later South Asia, and was the title borne by members of the highest aristocracies in Tatar states, such as the khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan.

1. A surname.