, Bezirgan, Turkish forms of the Persian Bāzargān , a merchant. In Ottoman Turkish usage the term Bāzi̊rgān was applied to Christian and more especially Jewish merchants. Some of these held official appointments in the Ottoman palace or armed forces; such were the Bazi̊rganbas̲h̲i̊ , the chief purveyor of textiles to the Imperial household (D’Ohsson, Tableau général , vii, Paris 1824, 22; Gibb-Bowen, 1/1, 359), and the Od̲j̲aḳ Bāzi̊rgāni̊ , the stewards, usually Greek or Jewish, who handled the pay and supplies of the corps of Janissaries. This office tended to …