kalfa
{{Short description|Ottoman term for female palace attendants}}
{{for|the village|Kalfa, Manyas}}
{{one source|date=September 2018}}
Kalfa (Turkish for 'apprentice, assistant master') was a general term in the Ottoman Empire for the women attendants and supervisors in service in the imperial palace.
{{cite book|title= The Concubine, the Princess, and the Teacher: Voices from the Ottoman Harem|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=HuZTefumFSQC|year= 2010|publisher= University of Texas Press|isbn= 978-0-292-78335-5
}}
Novice girls had to await promotion to the rank of {{Lang|tr|kalfa}}. It was a rank below that of {{Lang|tr|usta}} ('master'), the title of the leading administrative/supervisory officers of the harem. The titles {{Lang|tr|usta}} and {{Lang|tr|kalfa}} belong to the terminology of Ottoman guild organization and other hierarchically-organized corporate bodies. Legally slave girls, these women—depending on their rank—could wield considerable authority and influence in their duties and were generally treated with much respect by lower-ranking attendants in the harem as well as by members of the imperial family.
Among craftsmen the term had a similar rank: that of a junior master yet to graduate to {{Lang|tr|usta}} status
{{cite book
| editor1-last = Berktay
| editor1-first = Halil
| editor1-link = Halil Berktay
| editor2-last = Koulouri
| editor2-first = Christina
| editor3-last = Murgescu
| editor3-first = Bogdan
| title = Ottoman Empire
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=WbUWAQAAMAAJ
| series = Teaching modern southeast European history : alternative educational materials / series editor Christina Koulouri, Center for Democracy and Reconciliation in Southeast Europe, ISBN 9608685729, 9789608685727
| year = 2005
| volume = 1
| publisher = Center for Democracy and Reconciliation in Southeast Europe
| publication-date = 2005
| page = 93
| isbn = 9789608685734
| access-date = 31 October 2019
| quote = Generally, in order to become a master (usta), one had first to be an apprentice (çirak) and then an aid (kalfa).
}}
and open his own shop.
Imperial ''kalfas''
The kalfas in personal service to the monarch were called {{Lang|tr|hünkâr kalfaları}} (Turkish for 'Imperial Kalfas'). The {{Lang|tr|Hazinedar}} (Turkish for 'treasurer') were the high-ranking chamberlain kalfas charged with supervisory duties in the harem. Also known as {{Lang|tr|usta}}, they ranked above ordinary kalfas and included in their number the {{Lang|tr|hünkür kalfaları}}. Their head, the hazinedar usta or high {{Lang|tr|hazinedar}}, occupied the second highest position in harem service, immediately below the lady steward.
Notable ''kalfas''
Notable women traditionally addressed as kalfas include Cevri Kalfa, a slave girl who saved Sultan Mahmud II's life and was awarded for her bravery and loyalty and appointed {{Lang|tr|hazinedar usta}}, the chief treasurer of the Imperial Harem, which was the second-most important position in the hierarchy.
The wives of many sultans were kalfas before their marriages.