Shah
Shah (; , , ) was a title given to the emperors and kings of Iran (historically known as "Persia" in the Western world). It was also adopted by the kings of Shirvan (a historical Iranian region in Transcaucasia), namely the Shirvanshahs, and by the Khwarazmshahs. The title was also used by Persianate societies, such as the rulers and offspring of the Ottoman Empire, the Kazakh Khanate, the Khanate of Bukhara, the Emirate of Bukhara, the Mughal Empire, the Bengal Sultanate, various Gurkha rulers, and historical Afghan dynasties. In Iran proper as well as in the Greater Iran region, the title saw continuous  usage. Rather than "king" in the European sense, each Iranian ruler regarded himself as the Shahanshah (, ) or Padishah (, ) of the Persian Empire. Etymology. The word descends from Old Persian "xšāyaθiya" "king", which used to be considered a borrowing from Median, as it was compared to Avestan "xšaθra-", "power" and "command", corresponding to Sanskrit (Old Indic) "kṣatra-" (same meaning), from which "kṣatriya-", "warrior", is derived. Most recently, the form "xšāyaθiya" has been analyzed as a genuine, inherited Persian formation with the meaning 'pertaining to reigning, ruling'. This formation with the "origin" suffix "-iya" is derived from a deverbal abstract noun *"xšāy -aθa-" 'rule, ruling, "Herrschaft", from the (Old Persian) verb "xšāy-" 'to rule, reign'. The full, Old Persian title of the Achaemenid rulers of the First Persian Empire was "Xšāyaθiya Xšāyaθiyānām" or (Modern Persian) "Šāhe Šāhān", "King of Kings" or "Emperor". This title has ancient Near Eastern or Mesopotamian precedents. The earliest attestation of such a title dates back to the Middle Assyrian period as "šar šarrāni," in reference to the Assyrian ruler Tukulti-Ninurta I (1243–1207 BC). History. "Šāh", or "Šāhanšāh" (King of Kings) to use the full-length term, was the title of the Persian emperors. It includes rulers  of the first Persian Empire, the Achaemenid dynasty, who unified Persia in the sixth century BC, and created a vast intercontinental empire, as well as rulers of succeeding dynasties throughout history until the twentieth century and the Imperial House of Pahlavi. While in Western sources the Ottoman monarch is most often referred to as a Sultan, in Ottoman territory he was most often referred to as "Padishah" and several used the title Shah in their tughras. Their male offspring received the title of "Şehzade", or prince (literally, "offspring of the Shah", from Persian "shahzadeh"). The full title of the Achaemenid  rulers was "Xšāyaθiya Xšāyaθiyānām", literally "King of Kings" in Old Persian, corresponding to Middle Persian "Šâhân Šâh", and Modern Persian ("Šâhanšâh"). In Greek, this phrase was translated as ("basileus tōn basiléōn"), "King of Kings", equivalent to "Emperor". Both terms were often shortened to their roots "shah" and "basileus". In Western languages, "Shah" is often used as an imprecise rendering of "Šāhanšāh". The term was first recorded in English in 1564 as a title for the King of Persia and with the spelling "Shaw". For a long time, Europeans thought of "Shah" as a particular royal title rather than an imperial  one, although the monarchs of Persia regarded themselves as emperors of the Persian Empire (later the Empire of Iran). The European opinion changed in the Napoleonic era, when Persia was an ally of the Western powers eager to make the Ottoman Sultan release his hold on various (mainly Christian) European parts of the Ottoman Empire, and western (Christian) emperors had obtained the Ottoman acknowledgement that their western imperial styles were to be rendered in Turkish as "padishah". In the twentieth century, the Shah of Persia, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, officially adopted the title "Šâhanšâh" and, in western languages, the rendering "Emperor . He also styled his wife Shahbânū" ("Empress"). Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was the last Shah, as the Iranian monarchy was abolished after the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Shahzade. "Shahzade" (, transliterated as "Šâhzâde"). In the realm of a shah (or a more lofty derived ruler style), a prince or princess of the royal blood was logically called "shahzada" as the term is derived from shah using the Persian patronymic suffix -zâde or -zâdeh, "born from" or "descendant of". However the precise full styles can differ in the court traditions of each shah's kingdom. This title was given to the princes of the  Ottoman Empire ("Şehzade", Ottoman Turkish: شهزاده) and was used by the princes of Islamic India ("Shahzāda", Urdu: شہزاده, ) such as in the Mughal Empire. The Mughals and the Sultans of Delhi were not of Indian origin but of Mongol-Turkic origin and were heavily influenced by Persian culture, a continuation of traditions and habits ever since Persian language was first introduced into the region by Persianised Turkic and Afghan dynasties centuries earlier. Thus, in Oudh, only sons of the sovereign "shah bahadur" (see above) were by birth-right styled "Shahzada [personal title] Mirza [personal name] Bahadur", though this style could  also be extended to individual grandsons and even further relatives. Other male descendants of the sovereign in the male line were merely styled "Mirza [personal name]" or "[personal name] Mirza". This could even apply to non-Muslim dynasties. For example, the younger sons of the ruling Sikh maharaja of Punjab were styled "Shahzada [personal name] Singh Bahadur". The borrowing "shahajada", "Shah's son", taken from the Mughal title Shahzada, was the usual princely title borne by the grandsons and male descendants of a Nepalese sovereign in the male line of the Shah dynasty until its abolition in 2008. For the  heir to a "Persian-style" shah's royal throne, more specific titles were used, containing the key element "Vali Ahad", usually in addition to "shahzada", where his junior siblings enjoyed this style.