burg

See also: Burg and -burg

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Etymology 1

The historical sense is from Late Latin burgus, from Frankish *burg, from Proto-Germanic *burgz (“borough, fortification”). Doublet of borough, Brough, burgh, burh, and bury. Also compare burgess.

The modern sense may have been formed in part by analogy with the many North American city names that are suffixed with -burg (a number of which in the Eastern United States once used -burgh instead. See burgh), as well as being formed in part due to German Burg.

Noun

burg (plural burgs)

1. (Canada, US) A city or town.
   • 1921, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Efficiency Expert‎^[1], HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2012:

     Tell mother that I will write her in a day or two, probably from Chicago, as I have always had an idea that that was one burg where I could make good.

   • 2009 June, David Thriault, “This Way In: The Sound and the Fury”, in Esquire, volume 151, number 6, page 6:

     Imagine my surprise when I learned that he was not only a Canadian but lived in Ottawa, that icy burg I had left so many kilometers -- sorry, miles -- behind me.

   • 2010 Feb, Paige Orloff, “Big Style on a (Little) Budget”, in Country Living, volume 33, number 2, page 84:

     It's been said that Wilder modeled that fictional setting on Peterborough, a quaint burg tucked away in New Hampshire's verdant southwestern hills.

2. (historical) A fortified town in medieval Europe.

Related terms

• burgher
• burghermaster
• burgomaster
• burgrave

Translations

fortified town in medieval Europe

• French: bourg (fr) m
• Galician: burgo m
• Italian: borgo (it) m
• Latin: burgus m
• Old Portuguese: burgo m
• Portuguese: burgo (pt) m
• Spanish: burgo (es) m

Etymology 2

Noun

burg (plural burgs)

1. (slang) burger
   • 2002, Ricard Marx Weinraub, Wonder Bread Hill, page 6:

     I hate this emptiness and the redundancy of eating burgs at Burger Town.

Anagrams

• grub

Albanian

Etymology

Possibly borrowed from Late Latin burgus (“fortress, watchtower”), perhaps ultimately from Proto-Germanic *burgz (“fortress”), or possibly borrowed from Ancient Greek πύργος (púrgos, “watchtower, fortress”), although this is difficult given the initial b- in Albanian.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [buɹɡ]

Noun

burg m (plural burgje, definite burgu, definite plural burgjet)

1. jail, prison

   Synonyms: hapsane f, haps m, quzë f, quar m

Declension

Declension of burg

	indefinite		definite
	singular	plural	singular	plural
nominative	burg	burgj	burgu	burgjet
accusative			burgun
dative	burgu	burgjve	burgut	burgjvet
ablative		burgjsh

Further reading

• Orel, Vladimir E. (1998) “burg”, in Albanian Etymological Dictionary, Leiden, Boston, Köln: Brill, →ISBN, page 42
• Bardhi, F. (1635) Dictionarium Latino Epiroticum (overall work in Latin and Albanian), page 10: “carcer — burgh”

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin burgus, from Frankish *burg (“fortress”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈburk]
• IPA^(key): (Valencian) [ˈbuɾk]

Noun

burg m (plural burgs)

1. (historical) a fortified settlement, fortress
2. (historical) the outskirts of a city, suburbs

   Synonym: ravals

Derived terms

• burgès

Related terms

• burgesia
• burggravi
• burgmestre

Further reading

• “burg” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bʏrx/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: burg
• Rhymes: -ʏrx

Noun

burg f (plural burgen, diminutive burgje n)

1. Alternative form of burcht, now rarely used outside names.

Irish

Noun

burg m (genitive singular buirg, nominative plural buirg)

1. Alternative form of buirg (“borough”)

Declension

Declension of burg

First declension

Bare forms: Case Singular Plural Nominative burg buirg Vocative a bhuirg a bhurga Genitive buirg burg Dative burg buirg

Forms with the definite article: Case Singular Plural Nominative an burg na buirg Genitive an bhuirg na mburg Dative leis an mburg don bhurg leis na buirg

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
burg	bhurg	mburg
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “burg”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Entries containing “burg” in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm, 1959, by Tomás de Bhaldraithe.
• Entries containing “burg” in New English-Irish Dictionary by Foras na Gaeilge.

Old Dutch

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *burg, from Proto-Germanic *burgz.

Noun

burg f

1. fortress, castle
2. city

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants

• Middle Dutch: borch, burch
  • Dutch: burg, burcht
    • Afrikaans: burg
  • Limburgish: bórg, börch

Further reading

• “burg”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012

Old English

Alternative forms

• burh

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *burgz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /burɡ/, [burˠɣ]

Noun

burg f (nominative plural byrġ)

1. city or town
   • c. 897, King Alfred's translation of Pope Gregory's Pastoral Care

     Wyrċaþ fæsten ymb þā burg.

     Build a fortress around the city.

   • late 9th century, translation of Orosius’ History Against the Pagans

     Þæt Ēstland is swīðe miċel, and þǣr biþ swīðe manega byrġ, and on ǣlcre byrġ biþ cyning.

     Estonia is very large. There are a whole lot of towns, and every town has a king.

   • late 9th century, King Alfred's translation of St. Augustine's Soliloquies

     Nāt iċ nā þȳ hwā Rōme burg timbrede þe iċ hit self ġesāwe, ac for þȳ þe hit man mē sæġde.

     I don't know who built the city of Rome because I saw it myself, but because somebody told me.

   • c. 992, Ælfric, "The Assumption of the Blessed Mary"

     Sē Godes wiðersaca hine þā ġehāthierte and cwæþ, "Þā iċ fram fierde ġeċierre, iċ tōweorpe þās burg, and hīe ġesmēðe, and tō ierþlande āwende, swā þæt hēo biþ cornbǣru swīðor þonne manbǣru."

     The adversary of God became furious and said, "When I return from the campaign, I will destroy this city, and level it, and turn it into farmland, so it is full of grain instead of people."

2. fortified place: fortress, castle
   • c. 897, King Alfred's translation of Pope Gregory's Pastoral Care

     Sēo burg þæs mōdes sċeal swīðe oft ġefrēdan hire fēonda speru.

     The fortress of the mind must very often feel the spears of its enemies.

   • Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Manuscript A, year 921

     Þā fōr Ēadweard cyning mid Westseaxna fierde tō Colneċeastre and ġebētte þā burg and ġeednīewode þǣr hēo ǣr tōbrocen wæs.

     Then King Edward traveled to Colchester with the West Saxon army and repaired the fortress, and rebuilt it where it had been destroyed.

Declension

Declension of burg (strong consonant stem)

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	burg	byrġ
accusative	burg	byrġ
genitive	byrġ	burga
dative	byrġ	burgum

Synonyms

• (city, town): ċeaster
• (fortress, castle): fæsten

Derived terms

• Cantwara burg (“Canterbury”)
• hēafodburg (“capital city”)
• Rōme burg (“city of Rome”)
• underburg (“suburb”)

Descendants

• Middle English: burgh
  • Scots: burch, burgh
  • English: borough, -borough, Brough, burg, bur-, burgh, bury (as in borough, manor), -bury
• → English: burh (learned)

Old High German

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *burg, Proto-Germanic *burgz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- (“fortified elevation”).

Noun

burg f

1. a castle
2. a city

Declension

Declension of burg (feminine i-stem)

case	singular	plural
nominative	burg	burgi
accusative	burg	burgi
genitive	burgi	burgo
dative	burgi	burgim, burgen

Descendants

• Middle High German: burc
  • German: Burg
  • Luxembourgish: Buerg

References

1. Köbler, Gerhard, Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, (6. Auflage) 2014

Old Saxon

Alternative forms

• burh
• burug

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *burg, Proto-Germanic *burgz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- (“fortified elevation”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /burɣ/

Noun

burg f

1. fort, castle
   • 830 A.D. Heliand, verse 4187:

     imu thô an Effrem an theru hôhon burg uunode ― he then lived in the high fort of Effrem

2. city, town
   • (Can we date this quote?) Genesis, verse 238:

     bûan an them burugium ― to live in these cities

Declension

Declension of burg, burh (feminine i-stem)

	singular	plural
nominative	burg, burh	burgi
accusative	burg, burh	burgi
genitive	burgi	burgiō
dative	burgi	burgium
instrumental	—	—

Descendants

• Middle Low German: borch
  • German Low German: Börg, Borg

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French bourg.

Noun

burg n (plural burguri)

1. burg, market town

Declension

Declension of burg

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) burg	burgul	(niște) burguri	burgurile
genitive/dative	(unui) burg	burgului	(unor) burguri	burgurilor
vocative	burgule		burgurilor