Etymologically
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bey

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Pronunciation

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ottoman Turkish بك (bey, “gentleman, chief”),[2] Turkish bey (“prince, governor”),[3][4][5][6] the modern pronunciation of older beg.[3][7][8][9] This continues Old Turkic beg (“chieftain, lord”),[10][11] recorded in the Orkhon inscriptions of 735,[12] from Proto-Turkic *bēg (“lord”).[2] In Old Uyghur texts the word meant a prince or ruler, a husband, a state official or a nobleman.[13] Its further origin is debated.[12][10] Nişanyan and the American Heritage Dictionary relate it to Iranian words such as Sogdian bğ (“lord, master, god”), Avestan baga (“lord, god”) and Old Persian baga (“god”), noting that many Old Turkic titles of rank were taken from Iranian languages;[12][10] Etymonline compares a Persian word for lord.[5] The American Heritage Dictionary gives as another possibility a Middle Chinese word for "lord, father's elder brother", and Dictionary.com a Middle Chinese word related to the Chinese word for "hundred".[10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The governor of a district or province of the Ottoman Empire: 1537 in Merriam-Webster,[4] 1589 in the OED, in Hakluyt's Principall Navigations.[3] Etymonline and Dictionary.com date it to the 1590s.[5][11]

Semantic evolution

In the Ottoman Empire bey was a title of senior officers, provincial governors and other officials and nobles, and was sometimes given to Europeans.[14][4] It was the title of the rulers of Tunis,[4] and was used as a title of courtesy in Turkey and Egypt.[4][7] In modern Turkey it is a form of address after a man's name, like "Mr".[14][15] Lokotsch notes that the title passed into many European languages, and that later its holders often gave it to themselves, so that it lost value.[16] In Bosnia beg was the title of the Muslim nobility, and was added to names as a mark of respect.[17] The derivative beylik, the jurisdiction or territory of a bey, is recorded in English from the mid 18th century.[7][9]

Timeline

  • 1537 – the governor of an Ottoman district or province.[4] The OED's first record is from 1589, in Hakluyt.[3]
  • mid 18th century – beylik, the territory of a bey.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The governor of a district or province in the Ottoman Empire.[4][14][3]
  2. A title of rank or honour in the Ottoman Empire, given to senior officers, officials and nobles, and also used as a courtesy title in Turkey and Egypt.[14][4][7]
  3. The ruler of the former kingdom of Tunis.[4]
  4. In modern Turkey, a polite title used after a man's name, equivalent to Mr.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  3. ^ a b c d e Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  10. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  11. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  12. ^ a b c Nişanyan, Sevan, Nişanyan Sözlük: Çağdaş Türkçenin Etimolojisi (online edition)
  13. ^ Wilkens, Jens (2021), Handwörterbuch des Altuigurischen, Göttingen: Universitätsverlag Göttingen
  14. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  15. ^ Kubbealtı Lugatı: Misalli Büyük Türkçe Sözlük, Istanbul: Kubbealtı Neşriyatı
  16. ^ Lokotsch, Karl (1927), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der europäischen (germanischen, romanischen und slavischen) Wörter orientalischen Ursprungs, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  17. ^ Škaljić, Abdulah (1966), Turcizmi u srpskohrvatskom jeziku, Sarajevo: Svjetlost