VU 1 sü: ‘army’. The theory put forward in TT X, p. 19, note 206 that this should be transcribed şö: and taken as a l.-w. fr. Chinese shou ‘to hunt’ (Giles 10,013) is quite untenable since the spelling with s- is universal in texts in Ar. script. The word itself cannot be traced later than about xv, but the phr. sü: başı: ‘army commander’ lived on and, when sü: itself had been forgotten, was taken to be su: başı: and used for ‘water (i.e. irrigation) superintendent’, an official of great importance in the Middle East, see e.g. SW Osm. şu başı Sami 835, Red. 1188. This misunderstanding suggests that the vowel was -ü: but this is not certain. Türkü viii sü: ‘army’ is common, esp. in the phr. sü: süle:- ‘to make an expedition’; sü başı: İnel (sic) Xağan Tarduş Şad barzu:n ‘let İnel Xağan, the Tarduş Şad, go as army commander’ T 31: viii ff. sü: occurs several times in IrkB, e.g. xan süke: barmış yağı:ğ sançmış ‘the xan went to the army (i.e. on a campaign) and routed the enemy’ 34: Yen. sü: has been read in several inscriptions, but the only clear case is Mal. 26, 8 (1 teg): Uyğ. viii sü: occurs 8 times in Şu., usually in such phr. as sü: yorı:dı: ‘the army set out’ N 6; [sü:] başı: ben ‘I was the [army] commander’ has been restored in the Side line: viii ff. Man.-A kentü kentü süsin [gap] ‘their own armies’ M I 22, 5 (i); Bud. sü, usually spelt suu (cf. sö: in Suv.), is fairly common, e.g. alku törlüg sü: çeriglerde [gap] ‘in all kinds of armies and troops’ U II 74, 4 (i); a.o. do. 69, 5 (ii): Civ. süke barğu iş bolur ‘it becomes an affair of going to the army’ TT VII 36, 15-16; a.o. TT I 67 (sançıt-): Xak. xi sü: al-cund ‘the army’ Kaş. III 208 (prov.; verse); about 40 o.o. translated al-cund or less often al-cayş ‘army’ or al-‘askar ‘the soldiers’; in I 478, 8 the full title of Selcük (sic, not Salcuk) ‘the ancestor of those Sultans’ is given as Selcük sü: başı:: KB in 2266 the King asks what qualities sü başlar kişi ‘an army commander’ requires; the answer is in Chap. XXX, 2269 ff.: xiii(?) Tef. sü ‘army’; süsi birle ya‘ni laşkarı birle 278: (xiv Muh. rafīqu’l-‘askar ‘fellow-soldier’ sü:de:ş Mel. 50, 1; Rif. 145): Xwar. xiii sü ‘army’ ‘Ali 52: xiv ditto Qutb 162: Kıp. xiii Hou. 14, 10 (çerig): Osm. xiv to xvi sü ‘army’ in several texts TTS I 652; II 853; sü başı, here spelt su başı, with şu in some texts fr. xv (perhaps a later MS.) onwards, occurs in all periods; in the earliest period the title was clearly military and this continued till xviii, but the transition to civil duties is hinted in dicts. fr. xvi onwards I 646; II 844; III 640; IV 707.