Bey (Ottoman Turkish: باي/Bey, Arabic: بك / Bek, Persian: بگ / Beg or Beyg) is a 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 "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" 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.
The word entered English from Turkish bey, itself derived from Old Turkic beg, 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". The dialect variations bäk, bek, bey, biy, bi, and pig all derive from the Old Turkic form. The actual origin of the word is still disputed, though it is mostly agreed that it was a loan-word, in Old Turkic. This Turkic word is usually considered a borrowing from an Iranian language. However, German Turkologist Gerhard Doerfer assessed the derivation from Iranian as superficially attractive but quite uncertain, and pointed out the possibility that the word may be genuinely Turkic. Two principal etymologies have been proposed by scholars:
Bey is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
Bey is the Turkish term for a tribal chieftain, Ottoman or later Islamic official, in latter days reduced to a hollow form of address; a leader of beylik.
Bey or BEY may also refer to:
Words & Music by Hank Snow & Eddie Nesbitt
You Pass Me By, and you don't even stop to say "hello".
Don't know why I've learned to love you so.
Each night it seems I hear you say your love will never die,
I wake from dreams, You Pass Me By.
When you are lonely, some day you'll learn
Just what it means to live in dreams of love that's unreturned.
A love so sweet that vanished with the sunshine in the sky,
Each time we meet, You Pass Me By.
You Pass Me By, and now I know my hopes are all in vain
Here am I alone on mem'ry lane.
I hope and pray, the one you love will never make you cry,
Then turn away and pass you by.
I keep your mem'ry locked in my heart,
Forever there to help me bear the lonely tears that start.
I might have known our love was only meant to be a lie,
Oh, heart of stone, You Pass Me By.