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Çorbaci (sometimes variously transliterated as chorbaji, chorbadzhi, tschorbadji) (Turkish: çorbacı, "soup server" [1]) was a military rank of Janissaries, a commander of an orta (regiment), i.e., approximately corresponding to the rank of colonel. The word derives from "çorba", "soup", and literally means "soup server", "the one who feeds people with soup".
In the Republic of Macedonia and in Bulgaria in Ottoman times the term "çorbaci" (Macedonian: чорбаџи, Bulgarian: чорбаджия, chorbadzhiya) referred to the rural elite: heads of villages and other rural communities and rich peasants. Ottomans employed them in various administrative positions of tax collectors and in courts of law. Since the 19th century in independent Bulgaria the term largely fell out of use as the Ottoman system was abandoned.
The word is still in use in vernacular Turkish and Bulgarian with the meaning of "boss". It is also a common family name among Albanians, Bulgarians, Turks or Ukrainians (e.g. a vice-governor of Odessa is Ivan Chorbadzhi - Иван Чорбаджи).
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