Turkish honorary title formerly given to officers of high rank, 1640s, from Turkish pasha, also basha, from bash "head, chief" (no clear distinction between -b- and -p- in Turkish), from Old Persian pati- "master" (from PIE root *poti- "powerful; lord") + root of shah. Earlier in English as bashaw (1530s).
Entries linking to pasha
*poti-
Proto-Indo-European root meaning "powerful; lord."
It forms all or part of: bashaw; compos mentis; despot; hospodar; host (n.1) "person who receives guests;" idempotent; impotent; omnipotent; pasha; plenipotentiary; posse; possess; possible; potence; potency; potent; potentate; potential; potentiate; potentiometer; power; totipotent.
It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit patih "master, husband;" Greek posis, Lithuanian patis "husband;" Latin potis "powerful, able, capable; possible."
shah n.
title of the king of Persia, 1560s, shaw, from Persian shah "a king, the ruler of a land," shortened from Old Persian xšayathiya "king," from Indo-Iranian *ksayati "he has power over, rules" from PIE *tke- "to gain control of, gain power over" (source also of Sanskrit ksatram "dominion;" Greek krasthai "to acquire, get," kektesthai "to possess"). His wife is a shahbanu (from banu "lady"); his son is a shahzadah (from zadah "son").