beys

Beys are holders of a historic Turkic and Ottoman title used to denote a chieftain, governor, or military leader. The term derives from the Turkic word beg or bey, meaning “chieftain” or “lord,” and it has cognates across related languages. Throughout medieval and early modern Turkic and Islamic polities, a bey typically controlled a district, frontier territory, or military command, and the title could be granted by a higher authority such as a khan or sultan.

In Anatolia, following the decline of Seljuk authority, numerous beyliks emerged as semi-independent principalities. Some of these beyliks were later absorbed into the rising Ottoman state, which used the title bey for provincial or local leaders and officers beneath higher imperial ranks. The term also appears in compound forms such as beylerbeyi, a governor-general of a large province. In broad terms, a bey was an actor in the imperial or confederal governance networks, with authority that could be both administrative and military.

In modern usage, bey survives as a courtesy title in Turkish and some Turkic languages, functioning similarly to “Mr.” in many contexts when addressing men in formal or respectful settings. In Azerbaijan and neighboring regions, the form “bəy” remains a traditional honorific with ceremonial resonance. The word also survives in names, family lineages, and place names, and it appears in historical writing to indicate rank or lineage within former Turkic and Ottoman polities.