bey
/beɪ/ noun, proper noun
Forms beys
- noun (historical) A governor of a province or district in the Turkish (e.g. Ottoman) dominions.
- noun In various other places, a prince or nobleman.
- proper noun A surname.
- proper noun Beyoncé.
Etymology
Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish بك (bey, “gentleman, chief”), from Old Anatolian Turkish بك (beg, “ruler”), from Proto-Turkic *bēg (“lord”). See there for more.
* 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.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A governor of a province or district in the Turkish dominions; also, in some places, a prince or nobleman; a beg; as, the bey of Tunis.
Etymology [See Beg a bey.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “bey”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details