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'''Bey''' ({{lang-ota|بك}}/Bey, {{lang-ar|بيه}} / ''Beye'', {{lang-fa|بگ}} / ''Beg'' or ''Beyg'') is a [[Turkish language|Turkish]] title for [[chieftain]], traditionally applied to the leaders (for men) of small tribal groups. 
The feminine equivalent title was [[Begum]].
The regions or provinces where "beys" ruled or which they administered were called ''beylik'', roughly meaning "khanate", "emirate" or "principality" in the first case, "province" or "governorate" in the second (the equivalent of [[duchy]] in other parts of Europe).
Today, the word is still used informally as a social title for men (somewhat like the English word "[[mister (Mr.)|mister]]" and the French word ''[[monsieur]]'', which literally means "my lord"). Unlike "mister" however, it follows the name and is used generally with first names and not with last names.

==Etymology==
The word entered English from [[Turkish language|Turkish]] ''bey'',<ref name="m-w">{{cite web |url=http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/bey |title=Bey |accessdate=22 March 2008 |work=Merriam-Webster Online}}</ref> itself derived from [[Old Turkic]] ''beg'',<ref name="ahd">{{cite web|url=http://www.bartleby.com/61/17/B0221700.html |title=Bey |accessdate=22 March 2008 |work=The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080308071707/http://www.bartleby.com/61/17/B0221700.html |archivedate=8 March 2008 |df=dmy }}</ref> which - in the form ''bäg'' - has been mentioned as early as in the [[Orkhon inscriptions]] (8th century AD) 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 |accessdate=7 May 2011}}</ref> The dialect variations ''bäk'', ''bek'', ''bey'', ''biy'', ''bi'', and ''pig'' all derive from the Old Turkic form.<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:

1. 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}}</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 Turkish word ''bai'' (rich), whence Mongol name ''[[Bayan (given name)|Bayan]]'' (rich).<ref name="Iranica2" /><ref name="Gluhak" />

2. the [[Chinese language|Chinese]] title ''pö'' (the older form being ''pök'' or ''pak''; according to [[Edwin G. Pulleyblank|Edwin Pulleyblank]] ''pe<sup>r</sup>jk''), meaning ''older brother'' and ''feudal lord'', often lower members of the aristocracy.<ref name="Iranica" /> 伯 (bó) is the [[Chinese nobility|Chinese noble title]] equivalent to [[count]].

What is certain is that the word has no connections to Turkish ''berk'', "strong" ([[Mongolian language|Mongolian]] ''berke''), or Turkish ''bögü'', "[[shaman]]" (Mong. ''böge'').<ref name="Iranica" />

==Turkish and Azerbaijani beys==
The first three rulers of the Ottoman realm were titled ''Bey''.  The chief [[monarch|sovereign]] of the [[Ottoman Empire]] only came to be called [[sultan]] starting in 1383 when [[Murad I]] was granted this title by the shadow [[caliph]] in [[Cairo]].

The Ottoman state had started out as one of a dozen Turkish [[Ghazi warriors|Ghazi]] ''[[Anatolian beyliks|Beyliks]]'', roughly comparable to western European duchies, into which [[Anatolia]] (i.e., Asian Turkey, or [[Asia Minor]]) had been divided after the break-up of the [[Seljuq dynasty|Seljuk]] [[Sultanate of Ikonion]] ([[Konya]]) and the military demise of the [[Byzantine Empire]].  Its capital was [[Bursa]].  By 1336 it had annexed only the Beylik of [[Karasy]], its western neighbour on the coast of the [[Sea of Marmara]], but it began to expand quite rapidly thereafter.

As the Ottoman realm grew from a Beylik into an imperial sultanate, the title "Bey" came to be applied to subordinate military and administrative officers, such as a district administrator and lower-level minor military governors.  The latter were usually titled [[sanjakbey]] (after the term "Sanjak", denoting a military horsetail banner). Beys were lower in rank than [[pasha]]s and provincial governors ([[wāli]]s, usually holding the title of pasha), who governed most of the Ottoman [[vilayet]]s (provinces), but higher than [[effendi]]s.

Eventually the chiefs of the former Ottoman capitals [[Bursa, Turkey|Bursa]] and [[Edirne]] (formerly the Byzantine [[Adrianople]]) in Turkish [[Thrace]] both were designated "Bey."

Over time the title became somewhat devalued, as Bey was even used as a courtesy title (alongside [[Pasha]]zade) for a pasha's son.  It also came to be attached to officers and dignitaries below those entitled to be pashas, notably the following military officer ranks (still lower ranks were styled ''efendi''):
*Miralai (army colonel or navy captain)
*[[Kaimakam]] (army lieutenant-colonel or navy commander)

Oddly, the compound ''Beyefendi'' was part of the title of the husband (full style ''Damad-i-Shahyari'' (given name) ''Beyefendi'') and sons (full style ''[[Sultanzada|Sultanzade]]'' (given name) ''Beyefendi'') of an Imperial Princess, and their sons in turn were entitled to the courtesy title ''[[Begzada|Beyzade]]'' (literally "Son of a Bey".  For the grandsons of an imperial princess, the official style was simply Bey after the name.).

By the late 19th century, "Bey" had been reduced in the Ottoman Empire to an honorary equivalent of the English-speaking address (not the British courtesy title) "Sir", somewhat akin to the contemporary [[Cockney]] usage of "guv'nor." While in [[Kazakh language|Qazaq]] and other Central Asian [[Turkic languages]], ''бай'' [baj] remains a rather honorific title, in modern Turkish, and in [[Azerbaijan]], the word "bey" (or "bay") simply means "mister" (compare [[Effendi|efendi]]) or "sir" and is used in the meaning of "chieftain" only in historical context.  ''Bay'' is also used in Turkish in combined form for certain military ranks, e.g. ''albay'', meaning [[colonel]], from ''alay'' "regiment" and ''-bay'', and ''yarbay'', meaning [[lieutenant colonel]], from ''yardim'' "assistance" and ''-bay'' (thus an "assistant ''albay''").

As with most Turkish titles, it follows the name rather than precedes it as in western languages, ''e.g.'' "Ahmet Bey" for "Mr. Ahmet". When one speaks of ''Mr. Ahmet'', the title has to be written with a capital (Ahmet Bey), but when one addresses him directly it is simply written without capital (Ahmet bey). ''Bey'' may combine with ''efendi'' to give a common form of address, to which the possessive suffix ''-(i)m'' is usually added: ''beyefendim'', ''efendim''.

''Beyefendi'' has its feminine counterpart: ''hanımefendi'' {{IPA-tr|haˈnɯmefendi|}}, used alone, to address a woman without her [[first name]]. And with the first name: ''Ayşe Hanım'' or ''Ayşe hanım'', for example, according to the rule given above about the use of the capital letter.

==Beys elsewhere==
The title Bey ({{lang-ar|بيه}}; {{IPA-arz|beː}}) could be maintained as 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|url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/2502|publisher=[[World Digital Library]]|accessdate=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 Sultan of Turkey in the twilight of the Ottoman Empire to [[Oba (ruler)#Aristocratic titles among the Yoruba|Oloye]] [[Mohammed Shitta Bey|Mohammed Shitta]], an African merchant prince of the [[Yoruba people]] who served as a ranking leader of the Muslim community in the kingdom of [[Lagos]]. Subsequently, he and his children became known in [[Nigeria]] by the compound name '''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 ''bey'' (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. c. 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 [[Tatar]] [[Khanate of Kazan]], in charge of a Beylik called ''Bäklek''. 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 Kurbegović, [[Alija Izetbegović|Izetbegović]], [[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]].

==See also==
{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}
* [[Baig]]
* [[Begum]]
* [[Beylerbey]]
* [[Begzada]]
* [[Atabeg]]
* [[Dey]]
* [[Khagan Bek]]
* [[Skanderbeg]]
* [[Ban (title)|Ban]]
* [[Bai Baianai]]
* [[Anatolian beyliks]]
* [[Ottoman titles]]
{{Div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

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

{{Organisation of the Ottoman Empire}}

[[Category:Gubernatorial titles]]
[[Category:Heads of state]]
[[Category:Military ranks]]
[[Category:Mughal nobility]]
[[Category:Noble titles of Egypt]]
[[Category:Noble titles]]
[[Category:Ottoman titles]]
[[Category:Positions of subnational authority]]
[[Category:Royal titles]]
[[Category:Titles in Lebanon]]
[[Category:Titles of national or ethnic leadership]]
[[Category:Turkish titles]]
[[Category:Turkish words and phrases]]