The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c28.37

v3.c28.37

¹ The meaning of this title, corrupted by the Portuguese into *Sabaio* or *Çabaio*, is also obscure. It has been explained as *Sawāi*, ‘the one and a quarter man,’ i.e. he who is better by one quarter than others—a conceit common enough in northern India, where the Mahārāja of Alwar still bears the title, but peculiar to Hindus, and unusual, if not unknown, in the Deccan. It is otherwise explained as an adjective formed from Sāva, the town in northern Persia where Yūsuf’s youth was spent, but the first syllable of *Sawāi* is short and the second long, whereas in Sāva the first is long and the second short. Moreover, the adjective formed from Sāva takes the form *Sāvaji*.