Bey

"Bey" (Ottoman Turkish: بك "Beik", Albanian: bej, Bosnian: beg, Arabic: بيه "Beyeh", Persian: بیگ "Beyg" or بگ "Beg") is a traditionally Turkish title for Chieftain ruler of a Beylik, for the leaders or rulers of various sized areas in the Ottoman Empire. The equivalent title for women was Begum.

Muhammad VI. al-Habib, 1922–29, Bey of Tunis, in Paris

In modern times, the word is still used formally as a social title for men. It is cited after the name and is used generally with first names and not with last names.

The word entered English from Turkish bey,[1] itself derived from Old Turkic beg,[2] 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".[3][4] The actual origin of the word is still disputed, though it is mostly agreed that it was a loan-word,[3] in Old Turkic.[5] This Turkic word is usually considered a borrowing from an Iranian language.[4][6] However, German Turkologist Gerhard Doerfer assessed the derivation from Iranian as superficially attractive but quite uncertain,[4] and pointed out the possibility that the word may be genuinely Turkic.[3]