bashi-bazouk

Where does the word "bashi-bazouk" come from? It comes from Ottoman Turkish başıbozuk, and was adopted directly into English (1850s).

Bashi-bazouk’s story begins in Ottoman Turkish: başıbozuk meant “irregular soldier.” Literally 'head out of order', i.e. leaderless: irregular troops without uniform or regular pay. It reached English by 1850s as bashi-bazouk. British officers met them in the Crimean War; their 1876 massacres in Bulgaria became notorious through Gladstone's pamphlet 'Bulgarian Horrors'. Today, bashi-bazouk means an irregular, undisciplined soldier of the Ottoman army.

1. Stage 1 · Ottoman Turkish · 1800s başıbozuk "irregular soldier", literally 'head out of order', i.e. leaderless: irregular troops without uniform or regular pay.
2. Stage 2 · English · 1850s bashi-bazouk "undisciplined Ottoman irregular", British officers met them in the Crimean War; their 1876 massacres in Bulgaria became notorious through Gladstone's pamphlet 'Bulgarian Horrors'.