Editing Bey

{{Short description|Honorific title in Turkic languages}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}}
{{Redirect|Baig|the surname|Baig (surname)|other uses of Bey|Bey (disambiguation)}}
[[File:Uyghur_General_Khojis_(-1781),_governor_of_Turfan,_who_later_settled_in_Beijing._Painting_by_a_European_Jesuit_artist_at_the_Chinese_court_in_1775.png|thumb|[[Uyghurs|Uyghur]] General [[Khojis]] (d. 1781), bey of Turfan, who later settled in Beijing; painting by a European Jesuit artist at the Chinese court in 1775<ref>{{cite web |title=北京保利国际拍卖有限公司 |url=https://www.polypm.com.cn/news/detail/3934/14 |website=polypm.com.cn}}</ref>]]
'''Bey''',{{efn|{{langx|ota-Arab|بك|beğ}}, {{langx|tr|bey}}, {{langx|az|bəy}}, {{langx|tk|beg}}, {{langx|uz|бек}}, {{langx|kk|би/бек}}, {{langx|ky|бий/бек}}, {{langx|tt-Cyrl|бәк|translit=bäk}}, {{langx|cjs|пий/пек}}, {{langx|sq|beu/bej}}, {{langx|hr|beg}}, {{langx|sr|beg}}, {{langx|fa|بیگ|beyg}}/{{transliteration|fa|beig}}, {{langx|tg|бек}}, {{langx|ar|بيه, بك|bēh, bek}}}} also spelled as '''Baig''', '''Bayg''', '''Beigh''', '''Beig''', '''Bek''', '''Baeg, Begh,''' or '''Beg''', is a [[Turkic languages|Turkic]] title for a [[chieftain]], and a royal, [[aristocratic]] title traditionally applied to people with special lineages to the leaders or rulers of variously sized areas in the numerous Turkic kingdoms, emirates, sultanates and empires in [[Central Asia]], [[South Asia]], [[Southeast Europe]], and the [[Middle East]], such as the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]], [[Timurid Empire|Timurids]] or the various [[khanates]] and [[emirate]]s in [[Central Asia]] and the [[Eurasian Steppe]]. The feminine equivalent title was [[begum]]. The regions or provinces where "beys" ruled or which they administered were called ''[[Anatolian beyliks|beylik]]'', roughly meaning "governorate" or "region" (the equivalent of a [[county]], [[duchy]], [[grand duchy]] or [[principality]] in Europe, depending on the size and importance of the [[Anatolian beyliks|beylik]]). However the exact scope of power handed to the beys varied with each country, thus there was no clear-cut system, rigidly applied to all countries defining all the possible power and prestige that came along with the title.

Today, the word is still used formally as a social title for men, similar to the way the titles "[[sir]]" and "[[mister]]" are used in the English language. Additionally, it is widely used in the naming customs of [[Central Asia]], namely in countries such as [[Uzbekistan]], [[Kazakhstan]] and [[Kyrgyzstan]]. Notably, the ethnic designation of [[Uzbeks]] comes from the name of [[Öz Beg Khan]] of the [[Golden Horde]], being an example of the usage of this word in personal names and even names of whole ethnic groups. The general rule is that the honorific is used with first names and not with surnames or last names.

==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>

==Turkish beys==
[[Lucy Mary Jane Garnett]] wrote in the 1904 work ''Turkish Life in Town and Country'' that "distinguished persons and their sons" as well as "high government officials" could become ''bey'', which was one of two "merely conventional designations as indefinite as our '[[Esquire]]' has come to be [in the United Kingdom]".<ref name=Garnettp5>[[Lucy Garnett|Garnett, Lucy Mary Jane]]. ''Turkish Life in Town and Country''. [[G. P. Putnam's Sons]], 1904. p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=t5Q4AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA5 5].</ref>

The Republican Turkish authorities abolished the title circa the 1930s.<ref>Shaw, Stanford J. and Ezel Kural Shaw. ''History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey'' (Volume II). [[Cambridge University Press]], 27 May 1977. {{ISBN|0521291666}}, 9780521291668. p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=AIET_7ji7YAC&pg=PA386 386].</ref>

However, it is important to note that the title [[Bey]], [[Bey|Baig]] or [[Begum]], [[Begzada]] and [[Uç Bey]] are regarded as comparable to the European nobility with the title of [[Viscount]], while [[Sanjak-bey|Sancak-beys]] and [[Atabeg|Atabegs]] are considered to be of an equivalent rank to [[Earl|earls]] or [[Count|counts]] in the context of European nobility.<ref>Imperial, royal and noble ranks Wikipedia Page
</ref><ref>Imperial, royal, noble, gentry and chivalric ranks in West, Central, South Asia and North Africa
Template</ref>

==Beys elsewhere==

{{anchor|Bey in Arab regions}}
The title ''bey'' ({{langx|ar|بيه}} {{IPA|arz|beː}}) was also called {{transliteration|ar|beyk}} or ''bek'' ({{lang|ar|بيك}}) – from Turkish {{transliteration|ota|beyg}} ({{lang|ota|بيـگ}}) – in North Africa, including Egypt.<ref>{{cite book |last=Marcel |first=Jean Joseph |title=Vocabulaire français-arabe des dialectes vulgaires africains: d'Alger, de Tunis, de Marok, et d'Égypte |date=1837 |publisher=C. Hingray |page=90 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fj8PAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA90 |language=fr |quote= {{lang|ar|بيك}} beyk, bey.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Jomard |first=Edme-François |title=Description de l'Egypte |date=1826 |publisher=C. L. F. Panckoucke |page=475 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=egr1I-6j81YC&pg=PA475 |language=fr |quote=Le mot ''sangiaq'' est un nom de dignité, synonyme de celui de ''bey'' (''beyk'' {{lang|ar|بيك}}, ou, suivant l’orthographe de la prononciation turques, ''beyg'' {{lang|ota|بيـگ}}).}} Summary: [[sanjaq-bey]] ≈ bey = beyk = beyg.</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Journal asiatique |date=1854 |page=484 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N78-DTow-8sC&pg=PA484 |language=fr |quote=Le titre de ''beg'' {{lang|ota|بيـگ}} (prononcé ''bey'') ou bek {{lang|ar|بيى}}, qui, en Barbie est écrit et prononcé ''bâï'' {{lang|ar|بك}} est proprement un mot turc.}}</ref>
A bey could maintain a similar office within Arab states that broke away from the [[High Porte]], such as [[Egypt]] and [[Sudan]] under the [[Muhammad Ali Dynasty]], where it was a rank below [[pasha]] (maintained in two rank classes after 1922), and a title of courtesy for a pasha's son.

Even much earlier, the virtual sovereign's title in Barbaresque North African 'regency' states was "Bey" (compare [[Dey]]). Notably in [[Tunis]],<ref name=WDL1>{{cite web|title=Private Drawing Room, I, Kasr-el-Said, Tunisia|year=1899|url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/2502|publisher=[[World Digital Library]]|access-date=2 March 2013}}</ref> the [[Husainid Dynasty]] used a whole series of title and styles including Bey:

* Just '''Bey''' itself was part of the territorial title of the ruler, and also as a title used by all male members of the family (rather like Sultan in the Ottoman dynasty).
* '''Bey al-Kursi''' "Bey of the Throne", a term equivalent to reigning prince.
* '''Bey al-Mahalla''' "Bey of the Camp", title used for the next most senior member of the Beylical family after the reigning Bey, the Heir Apparent to the throne.
* '''Bey al-Taula''' "Bey of the Table", the title of the Heir Presumptive, the eldest prince of the Beylical family, who enjoyed precedence immediately after the Bey al-Mahalla.
* '''[[Beylerbey]]i''' (or Beglerbegi) "Lord of Lords", was the administrative rank formally enjoyed by the ruler of Algiers and by rulers of parts of the Balkans in their official capacity of Ottoman Governor-General within the Turkish empire.This title was also used in Safavid empire.

'''Bey''' was also the title that was awarded by the Ottoman Sultan in the twilight of the Ottoman Empire to [[Oloye]] [[Mohammed Shitta Bey|Mohammed Shitta]], an African merchant prince of the [[Yoruba people]] who served as a senior leader of the Muslim community in the kingdom of [[Lagos]]. Subsequently, he and his children became known in [[Nigeria]] by the [[double-barrelled surname]] '''Shitta-Bey''', a tradition which has survived to the present day through their lineal descendants.

In the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] period, the lords of the semi-autonomous [[Mani Peninsula]] used the title of ''beis'' (μπέης); for example, [[Petros Mavromichalis]] was known as ''Petrobey''.

Other Beys saw their own ''Beylik'' promoted to statehood, e.g.:

* in [[Qusantina]] (Constantine in French), an Ottoman district subject to the [[Algiers regency]] since 1525 (had its own Beys since 1567), the last incumbent, Ahmed Bey ben Mohamed Chérif (b. {{Circa|1784}}, in office 1826–1848, d. 1850), was maintained when in 1826 the local [[Kabyle people|Kabyle]] population declared independence, and when it was on 13 October 1837 conquered by France, until it was incorporated into [[Algeria]] in 1848.

Bey or a variation has also been used as an aristocratic title in various Turkic states, such as ''Bäk'' in the [[Tatars|Tatar]] [[Khanate of Kazan]], in charge of a Beylik called ''Bäklek''. The [[Uzbeks|Uzbek]] [[Khanate of Khiva]], [[Emirate of Bukhara]] and The [[Khanate of Kokand]] used the "beks" as local administrations of "bekliks" or provinces. The [[Balkar]] princes in the [[North Caucasus]] highlands were known as ''taubiy'' (taubey), meaning the "mountainous chief".

Sometimes a Bey was a territorial vassal within a khanate, as in each of the three ''zuzes'' under the [[Khan (title)|Khan]] of the Kazakhs.

The variation ''Beg'', ''Baig'' or ''Bai'', is still used as a family name or a part of a name in South and Central Asia as well as the [[Balkans]]. In [[Slavic languages|Slavic]]-influenced names, it can be seen in conjunction with the Slavic ''-ov/-ović/ev'' suffixes meaning "son of", such as in [[Bakir Izetbegović|Bakir]] and [[Alija Izetbegović]], and [[Abai Qunanbaiuli|Abai Kunanbaev]].

The title is also used as an honorific by members of the [[Moorish Science Temple of America]] and the [[Moorish Orthodox Church]].

'Bey' is also used colloquially in [[Urdu]]-speaking parts of [[India]], and its usage is similar to "chap" or "man". When used aggressively, it is an offensive term.

The [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]] word 'bő' originates from an Old Turkic loanword, cognate with Ottoman 'bey', that used to mean 'clan leader' in Old Hungarian. Later, as an adjective, it acquired the meaning of "rich". Its contemporary meaning is "ample" or "baggy" (when referring to clothing).
<ref>{{cite book |last=Tótfalusi |first=István |title=Magyar Etimológiai Szótár |year=2005 |publisher=Arcanum |location=Budapest |chapter=bő |url=https://www.arcanum.com/hu/online-kiadvanyok/Lexikonok-magyar-etimologiai-szotar-F14D3/b-F1794/bo-F1993/?list=eyJmaWx0ZXJzIjogeyJNVSI6IFsiTkZPX0xFWF9MZXhpa29ub2tfRjE0RDMiXX0sICJxdWVyeSI6ICJiXHUwMTUxIn0 |access-date=July 2, 2024}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==See also==
{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}
* [[Biy]] – a judge and senator in [[Kazakh khanate]]
* [[Begum]]
* [[Beylerbey]]
* [[Begzada]]
* [[Atabeg]]
* [[Dey]]
* [[Khagan Bek]]
* [[Skanderbeg]]
* [[Bai Baianai]]
* [[Anatolian beyliks]]
* [[Ottoman titles]]
* [[Abaza Family]]
{{Div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary|bey}}
* [http://i-cias.com/e.o/bey.htm "Bey"] at ''Encyclopaedia of the Orient''.

{{Organisation of the Ottoman Empire}}
{{Authority control}}

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