burgher

burgher · noun¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*bʰerǵʰ-“fortified elevation”
2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*burgz
3. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*burg
4. Old High German · derived fromburgāri“inhabitant of a fortress”
5. Middle High German · derived fromburger
6. Middle Dutch · derived fromburgher
7. Middle English · inherited fromburger
8. English todayburgher

From Middle English burger, burgher, burghere, equivalent to burgh + -er (“inhabitant of”). Likely merged with and reinforced by Middle Dutch burgher (Modern Dutch: burger); from Middle High German burger (Modern German: Bürger); from Old High German burgāri (“inhabitant of a fortress”); derivative of burg (“fortress, citadel”), from Proto-West Germanic *burg, from Proto-Germanic *burgz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- (“fortified elevation”). Compare also Old English burgwaras (“inhabitants of a burg, burghers, citizens”) and Serbo-Croatian purger. More at borough.

Burgher · noun²

1. Dutch · derived fromburger
2. English todayBurgher

From burgher (“middle-class person”) and the synonymous Dutch burger. The European colonists who mixed with natives were of that social stratum.

Words from the same roots