Reis Effendin.
/ˌrʌɪs ɛˈfɛndi/, U.S. /ˌraɪs ɛˈfɛndi/ Now historical.
In the Ottoman Empire: an officer of state whose duties included those of Chancellor and Foreign Minister (see also quot. 1668).
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > office > holder of office > high officials of state > [noun] > in Turkish or Ottoman Empire
aga1542
Reis Effendi1668
1668 P. Rycaut Present State Ottoman Empire (new ed.) i. xii. 56 The Reis Efendi, which signifies chief of the Writers or Book-men.
1687 London Gaz. No. 2301/1 Solyman immediately sent before to Constantinople, the Testerdar and Reys Effendi, with the Seal and Standard of Mahomet.
1753 J. Hanway Hist. Acct. Brit. Trade Caspian Sea III. xxxv. 234 The reys effendi represented, that the season was too far advanced.
1819 T. Hope Anastasius (1820) I. iv. 77 The conference between a certain Embassador and the Reïs Effendee would produce a new war.
1877 Times 12 Jan. 6/4 The Ottoman Ports obstinately refused to listen to them, and the Reis Effendi..declared that the rebellion..was a matter in which foreign interference could not be listened to.
1936 Jrnl. Mod. Hist. 8 466 (note) He had told the Reis Effendi that the ambassador no longer enjoyed the confidence of the British government.
1993 M. S. Anderson Rise Mod. Diplomacy (BNC) 79 There the Reis-ul-Kuttab, or Reis Effendi as he was usually called by foreigners, the head of the grand vizier's chancery, showed some signs of becoming at least an approximation to a foreign minister.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1668