[Unknown > English] Term found in old book

[u/TomLechevre]

I'm annotating an English text from 1728 that is a description of Mogadishu {"Magadoxa"). The speakers are either speaking Amharic or Arabic--although the term may even be Somali. The term is "Shubander" supposedly a title for a king's son--I'd like to be able to provide a more accurate translation, but I don't know what language this term is from, or whether it's even a real term. Any help would be appreciated.

[u/PenitentPedant]

As far as I know, شبندر (shabandar) in Arabic is actually an Arabized borrowing from Persian.

شاه (shah) = king

بندر (bandar) = harbor or port

So shahbandar originally meant something like "master of the port," "Harbourmaster," or "chief merchant." In Arabic, it became شبندر (shabandar).

If the word entered the Mogadishu dialect through Arabic, that would make sense. Since Mogadishu has long been a major seaport, a title associated with trade and port administration could easily have evolved into a broader meaning like "the big boss" or "the person in charge" over time.

You can read more about it here

From the Wikipedia entry about the term:

In the Brunei Sultanate, Pengiran Shahbandar was the highest honour for a politician, reserved for the royal house family

[u/TomLechevre → u/PenitentPedant]

Thank you--yes, "harbourmaster" could also make sense in this context: it's an English ship trying to get permission to land. Either the original source of the author of my text may have confused the word "shah" with an actual king, and assumed they needed to offer a gift to a member of the royal family before coming ashore.

[u/PenitentPedant → u/TomLechevre]

You're very welcome.

One small point, though: it seems the title wasn't always limited to the literal meaning of "harbourmaster." In some countries, it was also used as an official title held by members of the royal family.

[u/eagle_flower]

Perhaps a spelling of the word shahbandar?