Vilayet

The Ottoman Turkish vilayet (ولایت‎) was a loanword borrowed from Arabic wilāya (وِلَايَة), an abstract noun formed from the verb waliya (وَلِيَ, "to administer").

In Arabic, it had meant "province", "region", or "administration" as general ideas, but following the Tanzimat reforms the Ottoman term formalized it in reference to specific areas in a defined hierarchy.

It was also translated into Armenian as gawaŕ (գաւառ), Bulgarian as oblast (област), Judaeo-Spanish as provinsiya, and Greek as eparchía (επαρχία) and nomarchía (νομαρχία).

[7] His council comprised a secretary (mektupçu), a comptroller (defterdar), a chief justice (müfettiş-i hükkâm-ı şeriyye), and directors of foreign affairs, public works, and agriculture and commerce,[8] each nominated by the respective ministers[8] in Istanbul.

Each sanjak or liva was administered by a sanjakbey or mutasarrif personally appointed by the sultan and a council (idare meclisi) composed of a secretary (tahrirat müdürü), comptroller (muhasebeci), deputy judge (naib), and representatives of the public works board (nafia) and the educational system (maarif).

Each kaza was under a kaymakam and a council composed of a secretary (tahrirat kâtibi), comptroller (mal müdürü), deputy judge, and representatives of the public works board.