Editing Bey (section)

==Etymology==
The word entered English from [[Turkish language|Turkish]] {{lang|tr|bey}},<ref name="m-w">{{cite web |url=http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/bey |title=Bey |access-date=22 March 2008 |publisher=Merriam-Webster}}</ref>. Its [[Old Turkic]] cognate ''beg'',<ref name="ahd">{{cite web|url=http://www.bartleby.com/61/17/B0221700.html |title=Bey |access-date=22 March 2008 |work=The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080308071707/http://www.bartleby.com/61/17/B0221700.html |archive-date=8 March 2008 }}</ref> which – in the form ''bäg'' – has been mentioned as early as in the 8th century AD [[Orkhon inscriptions]] and is usually translated as "tribal leader".<ref name="Iranica">{{cite web |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/beg-pers |title=Beg |publisher=Encyclopædia Iranica |access-date=7 May 2011}}</ref><ref name="Iranica2">{{cite web |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/baga-an-old-iranian-term-for-god-sometimes-designating-a-specific-god |title=Baga |publisher=Encyclopædia Iranica |access-date=22 August 2011}}</ref> The actual origin of the word is still disputed, though it is mostly agreed that it was a loan-word,<ref name="Iranica" /> in Old Turkic.<ref name="Nisanyan">[http://www.nisanyansozluk.com/?k=bey "Bey"] in ''Nişanyan Dictionary''</ref> This Turkic word is usually considered a borrowing from an Iranian language.<ref name="Gluhak">Alemko Gluhak (1993), ''Hrvatski etimološki rječnik'', August Cesarec: Zagreb, pp. 123–124</ref><ref name="Iranica2" /> However, German Turkologist [[Gerhard Doerfer]] assessed the derivation from Iranian as superficially attractive but quite uncertain,<ref name="Iranica2" /> and pointed out the possibility that the word may be genuinely [[Turkic languages|Turkic]].<ref name="Iranica" /> Two principal etymologies have been proposed by scholars:

# the [[Middle Persian]] title ''bag'' (also ''baγ'' or ''βaγ'',<ref name="Iranica2" /> [[Iranian languages#Old Iranian|Old Iranian]] ''baga''; cf. [[Sanskrit]] भग / ''[[bhaga]]'') meaning "lord" and "master".<ref name="Iranica2" /> [[Peter Benjamin Golden|Peter Golden]] derives the word via [[Sogdian language|Sogdian]] ''bġy'' from the same [[Iranian languages|Iranian]] root.<ref name="Iranica" /><ref>P. Golden, "Turks and Iranians: An historical sketch", in S. Agcagül/V. Karam/L. Johanson/C. Bulut, ''Turkic-Iranian Contact Areas: Historical and Linguistic Aspects'', Harrassowit, 2006, p. 19ff</ref> All [[Iranian languages#Middle Iranian languages|Middle Iranian]] languages retain forms derived from ''baga-'' in the sense "god": Middle Persian ''bay'' (plur. ''bayān'', ''baʾān''), [[Parthian language|Parthian]] ''baγ'', [[Bactrian language|Bactrian]] ''bago'', Sogdian ''βγ-'',<ref name="Iranica2" /> and were used as honorific titles of kings and other men of high rank in the meaning of "lord".<ref name="Iranica2" /><ref>{{citation |last=Daryaee |first=Touraj |author-link=Touraj Daryaee |title=Ardashir and the Sasanian's Rise to Power |url=http://www.tourajdaryaee.com/wp-content/uploads/docs/daryaee-article-ardeshir-sasanian-rise-power.pdf |work=Anabasis: Studia Classica et Orientalia |volume=1 |year=2010 |pages=239 |access-date=24 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304133411/http://www.tourajdaryaee.com/wp-content/uploads/docs/daryaee-article-ardeshir-sasanian-rise-power.pdf |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The Iranian ''bāy'' (through connection with Old Indian noun ''bhāgá'' "possessions, lot"<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Bāḡ |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Iranica, Online Edition |last=Eilers |first=Wilhelm |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/bag-i |date=22 August 2011 |access-date=23 April 2015}}</ref><ref name="Iranica2" />) gave the now-obsolete Turkish word ''bay'' (rich); compare Mongolian ''Bayan''.<ref name="Iranica2" /><ref name="Gluhak" />
# the [[old Chinese|Chinese]] title ''pö'' (伯 [[standard Chinese|Mandarin]] ''bó''; its historical pronunciation being ''pök'' or ''pak'' or  ''pe<sup>r</sup>jk'', as reconstructed [[Edwin G. Pulleyblank|Edwin Pulleyblank]]), meaning ''older brother'' and [[Chinese nobility#Male aristocracy|''feudal lord'']].<ref name="Iranica" />

It was also used by the [[Uyghurs]]. It permitted the [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] Begs in the [[Altishahr]] region to maintain their previous status, and they administered the area for the [[Qing]] as officials.<ref>{{cite book |title = Oasis Identities: Uyghur Nationalism Along China's Silk Road |first1=Justin Jon |last1=Rudelson|first2=Justin Ben-Adam |last2=Rudelson |edition=illustrated |year = 1997 |publisher=Columbia University Press |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=MT2D_0_eBPQC&pg=PA31 |page=31 |isbn=0231107862 |access-date=24 April 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title = Xinjiang and China's Rise in Central Asia – A History |first=Michael E. |last=Clarke|year=2011|publisher=Taylor & Francis |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=jRhHphtBg-QC&pg=PA20 |page=20 |isbn=978-1136827068 |access-date=10 March 2014 |ref = {{harvid}} }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang|first=James A.|last=Millward|edition=illustrated|year=2007|publisher=Columbia University Press |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=8FVsWq31MtMC&pg=PA101 |page=101|isbn=978-0231139243 |access-date=10 March 2014 |ref = {{harvid}} }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title = Empire at the Margins: Culture, Ethnicity, and Frontier in Early Modern China |editor1-first=Pamela Kyle |editor1-last=Crossley|editor2-first=Helen F.|editor2-last=Siu|editor3-first=Donald S. |editor3-last=Sutton |volume = 28 |series = Studies on China |edition=illustrated |year=2006 |publisher=University of California Press |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=EtNVMUx9qIIC&pg=PA121 |page=121 |isbn=0520230159 |access-date=10 March 2014 |ref = {{harvid}} }}</ref> High-ranking Begs were allowed to call themselves Begs.<ref>{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=MC6sAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA204 |title = Beyond the pass: economy, ethnicity, and empire in Qing Central Asia, 1759-1864 |author=James A. Millward |year=1998|publisher=Stanford University Press|page=204|isbn=0-8047-2933-6|access-date=2010-11-28}}</ref>