1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Bey

BEY (a modern Turk, word, the older form being beg, cf. Pers. baig), the administrator of a district, now generally an honorific title throughout the Turkish empire; the granting of this in Egypt is made by the sultan of Turkey through the khedive. In Tunis “bey” has become the hereditary title of the reigning sovereigns (see Tunisia).