नवाब
nawāb
Hindi/Urdu from Arabic
“The Mughal governors became rich British merchants became anyone wealthy and powerful.”
Nabob comes from Hindi/Urdu नवाब (nawāb), from Arabic نُوَّاب (nuwwāb), the plural of نَائِب (nāʾib, deputy). Nawabs were Mughal provincial governors.
British East India Company men returned from India enormously wealthy. They were mockingly called 'nabobs' — men who'd made their fortune in the East and now flaunted it.
The word became generic for any wealthy, powerful person. American politics uses 'nattering nabobs of negativism' (Spiro Agnew's famous phrase, written by William Safire).
The Mughal title became British mockery became general vocabulary. Nawabs still exist in South Asian families; nabobs exist everywhere.
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Today
Nabob now means any rich person who flaunts their wealth. The colonial mockery generalized.
The Mughal provincial governor became a Wall Street insult.
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