; from ʿaskar , soldier; in Ottoman technical usage a member of the ruling military caste, as distinct from the reʿāyā —the subject population of peasants and townspeople (reʿāyā sometimes means the subjects generally, sometimes only the peasants). The term ‘askarī denoted caste rather than function; it included retired or unemployed ʿaskarīs, the wives and children of ʿaskarīs, manumitted slaves of the Sultan and of the ʿaskarīs, and also the families of the holders of religious public offices in attendance ( mulāzemet ) on the Sultan.

The Ottoman ʿaskarī class comprised both th…