Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Bey

Bey

(bā)
,
Noun.
[See
Beg
a bey.]
A governor of a province or district in the Turkish dominions; also, in some places, a prince or nobleman; a beg;
as, the
bey
of Tunis
.

Webster 1828 Edition


Bey

BEY

,
Noun.
In the Turkish dominions, a governor of a town or particular district of country; also,in some places, a prince; the same as the Arabic Beg. [See Beg.]

Definition 2024


bey

bey

English

Noun

bey (plural beys)

  1. (historical) A governor of a province or district in the Turkish dominions
    • 1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia, Faber & Faber 1992 (Avignon Quintet), p. 512:
      She was chaperoned by the widow of a Bey whose son had been at Oxford with him, and this gave him the excuse to exchange a few words with her, and then to be presented to the Princess.
    • 2005, Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Pashazade, p. 15:
      Whether his position with the Third Circle made the difference or the fact that he ranked as a bey, life in El Iskandryia was proving easier than he'd ever dreamed possible when he stepped off the plane.
  2. in various other places, a prince or nobleman

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

References


French

Noun

bey m (plural beys)

  1. bey

German

Preposition

bey

  1. Obsolete spelling of bei

Turkish

Etymology

From Ottoman Turkish بك (bey, beg), from Old Anatolian Turkish [script needed] (beg, ruler). Akin to Old Turkic 𐰋𐰏 (beg, chief, titled man), Old Uighur [script needed] (beg, lord, chief), Karakhanid بگ (bēg, chief, a woman's husband).

There are different theories about the further etymology of the word. According to one theory the word may ultimately come from Middle Chinese [script needed] (baak, pak),[1][script needed] (po, the head of a hundred men).[2] Another theory states that the word may have its origins in Sogdian [script needed] (baga, lord, master).[3][4] Nonetheless German Turkologist Gerhard Doerfer assessed the derivation from Iranian as uncertain and pointed out that the word may be genuinely Turkic.[5][6] Unrelated to bay.

Noun

bey (definite accusative beyi, plural beyler)

  1. gentleman, mister
  2. lord, master
  3. husband
Declension
Synonyms
  • bay
  • beyefendi
Related terms

References

  1. “bey.”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc., accessed 22 March 2008
  2. Clauson, Gerard (1972) An Etymological Dictionary of pre-thirteenth-century Turkish, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 322
  3. Eilers، “Iranisches Lehngut”, persisches Lehngut in europäischen Sprachen Von Jamshid Ibrahim from: Göttingen 1919 Wilhem Eilers, Iranisches Lehngut im Arabischen, p. 58
  4. Carter Vaughn Findley, Turks in World History, Oxford University Press, 2005, p. 45: "... Many elements of Non-Turkic origin also became part of Türk statecraft [...] for example, as in the case of khatun [...] and beg [...] both terms being of Sogdian origin and ever since in common use in Turkish. ..."
  5. "Baga.".Encyclopædia Iranica. Retrieved 22 August 2011.
  6. “beg.”, in Encyclopædia Iranica, accessed 7 May 2011