English
burgher
Burgher comes from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- ‘to rise up, ascend’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰerǵʰ-‘to rise up, ascend’root as named · steps between not traced
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500burger
- Englishearliest quotation 1879burgher
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰerǵʰ-‘to rise up, ascend’root as named · steps between not traced
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500burger
- Englishearliest quotation 1879burgher
Earliest quotation: 1879, [Ulysses S.] Grant in Philadelphia: “When General Grant started on his tour around the…”
Formed from burgh + -er ‘inhabitant of’
Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- ‘to be elevated, up high’
…
Proto-Germanic *burgz ‘city, stronghold’
Proto-West Germanic *burg ‘city’
Old English burh
Middle English borwe
English burgh
The story
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’).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- ‘to rise up, ascend’
force, comfortable, fort, berry, borough, barrow, brie, bourgeois, burgess, forcible, brahmin, burglar, brahmana, broch, borgo, bourguignon, bergh, 23 more
Today it means
noun A citizen of a borough or town, especially one belonging to the middle class.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- / burgher