Bey / Begum

By Deane Barker • • tags: definition, islam •

Definition: a Muslim of higher rank or social status

“Bey” is the male form of this word, “begum” the female. It’s the equivalent of the English “Lady” or “Dame.”

Spellings are all over the map here. The male form can be spelled any which way: Beigh, Beg, Bek, Bey, Baeg or Begh.

Informally, Muslim men will sometimes use “begum” to refer to their own wives.

Why I Looked It Up

I ran into the word “Dey” in Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates. It’s an honorific for “uncle” that was bestowed on the rulers of the barbary coast “The Dey of Algiers.”

This is not “bey,” but I saw that immediately after in some context I don’t remember.

And, in Cutting for Stone a nurse talks to a man who has far too many children:

“I’ll ask Dr. Ghosh to give you a special rate on a vasectomy, two for one. It will be cheaper than doing a tubal ligation on all the begums.”

Links from this – Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates: The Forgotten War that Changed American History October 16, 2021
This is a recounting of the First Barbary War. That event is important because it was the first overseas conflict the young United States ever fought in. (From the Marine Corp hymn: “From the halls of Montezuma, to the shores of Tripoli…” The “shores of Tripoli” happened in the First Barbary War.)...
Links from this – Cutting for Stone September 21, 2021
Absolutely stunning novel. I had heard of the book for years. My mother was born in Ethiopia in the 1940s (my grandparents were missionaries from New Zealand), and several people had told me that the story in the novel resembled my mother’s experience there as a child. The book was purchased for me...