Etymology

bey

B3E1Y4

Today it means: A governor of a province or district in the Turkish (e.g. Ottoman) dominions. Full definition →

Ottoman Turkish بك ← Old Anatolian Turkish بك ← Proto-Turkic *bēg
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bey · noun1

  1. Proto-Turkic · derived from*bēg“lord”
  2. Old Anatolian Turkish · derived fromبك“ruler”
  3. Ottoman Turkish · borrowed fromبك“gentleman, chief”
  4. English todaybey

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish بك (bey, “gentleman, chief”), from Old Anatolian Turkish بك (beg, “ruler”), from Proto-Turkic *bēg (“lord”). See there for more.

Bey · proper noun2

  1. Turkish · derived frombey
  2. Proto-Slavic · derived from*bajь
  3. Lower Sorbian · derived frombaj“storyteller”
  4. English todayBey

* As a north German and Dutch surname, variant of Beye, Baye, vowel variants of the Danish surname Boye. * Also as a German surname, Germanized from Lower Sorbian baj (“storyteller”), from Proto-Slavic *bajь, related to *bajati (“to tell”). Compare Bay. * As a French surname, from several placenames in France, from a regional variant of bief (“mill-race”). * As an Islamic surname (generally Algeria), from Turkish bey (see Beg). See also Pasha, Agha.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.