# subay
## Azerbaijani
### Etymology

The word is commonly assumed to derive from Mongolic, see Mongolian сувай (suvaj, “sterile, barren”). Cognate with Kyrgyz субай (subay, “barren animal”), Yakut субай (subay, “barren animal; animals to be slaughtered”); Chagatai [script needed] (subay, “unladen; single; light cavalry”). The sense 'bachelor; childless' occurs in Turkish dialects as well, possibly as a borrowing from Azerbaijani.
According to Doerfer, the word underwent the following semantic developments in (primarily) Central Asian Turkic languages: 'barren'→ 'unattached, not married' → 'light cavalry (unattached, unburdened by load)'; he then attributes Turkish subay (“officer”) to a semantic narrowing of an unattested sense '*light cavalry officer'. However, neither Azerbaijani nor Ottoman Turkish have the sense 'officer'.
Alternatively, the Turkish subay (“officer”) was coined as a replacement for Ottoman Turkish ضابط (“zâbit”) during the Turkish language reform, in which case the coinage was a misinterpretation of Chagatai [script needed] (subay) as a compound cognate with Old Turkic 𐰾𐰇 (s²ü, “army; spearmen; heavily armed pedestrian or horsemen”) and Old Turkic 𐰋𐰏 (b²g, “lord”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [suˈbɑj]
* Audio:(file)
* Hyphenation: su‧bay

### Noun

subay (definite accusative subayı, plural subaylar)
* bachelor, bachelorette; unmarried person. (mostly of men)
    Bütün subaylara qismət olsun.May [this] be the destiny for all bachelors.

#### Usage notes

* ↑ Said by someone who is getting married as a wish for the yet unmarried to eventually experience the joy of starting a family.

#### Declension
### Adjective

subay (comparative daha subay, superlative ən subay)
* unmarried, single, unattached
    subay kişi ― unmarried man
    subay qız ― unmarried girl

#### Derived terms

* subaylıq (“bachelor life”)

### References

* ↑ Lewis, Geoffrey (1999) The Turkish Language Reform: A Catastrophic Success, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, page 122
* ↑ Doerfer, Gerhard (1967) Türkische und mongolische Elemente im Neupersischen [Turkic and Mongolian Elements in New Persian] (Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur: Veröffentlichungen der Orientalischen Kommission)‎ (in German), volume 3, Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, pages 236–237
* ↑ Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “subay”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
* ↑ Abuseitova, M. Kh, Bukhatuly, B., editors (2008), “𐰾𐰇”, in TÜRIK BITIG: Ethno Cultural Dictionary, Language Committee of Ministry of Culture and Information of Republic of Kazakhstan
* ↑ Abuseitova, M. Kh, Bukhatuly, B., editors (2008), “𐰋𐰏”, in TÜRIK BITIG: Ethno Cultural Dictionary, Language Committee of Ministry of Culture and Information of Republic of Kazakhstan

## Hiligaynon
### Noun

subay
* ant

## Turkish
### Etymology

Probably from a misinterpretation of Chagatai [script needed] (subay, “light cavalry”) as a compound cognate with Old Turkic 𐰾𐰇 (s²ü, “army; spearmen; heavily armed pedestrian or horsemen”) and Old Turkic 𐰋𐰏 (b²g, “lord”) and thus having the meaning 'army lord', in order to coin a replacement for the Ottoman ضابط (“zâbit”) during Turkish language reform. See more at Azerbaijani subay.

### Noun

subay (definite accusative subayı, plural subaylar)
* (military) officer