Burgess
2831995
215503030
2008-05-28T14:13:47Z
Kingturtle
8780
removing slang
{{about||people named "Burgess"|Burgess (surname)|locations using the name "Burgess"|Burgess (places)}}
'''Burgess''' is an [[English language|English]] word that originally meant a [[Freedom of the City|freeman]] of a [[borough]] or [[burgh]]. It later came to mean an [[elected]] or un-elected [[official]] of a [[municipality]], or the [[representative]] of a [[borough]] in the [[English House of Commons]].
The word is linguistically close to the [[French language|French]] "[[Bourgeois]]", which evolved from the [[Old French language|Old French]] word ''burgeis'', meaning "an inhabitant of a town" (cf. [[Middle English]] ''burgeis'', [[Middle Dutch language|Middle Dutch]] ''burgher'' and [[German language|German]] ''Bürger''). The Old French word ''burgeis'' is derived from ''bourg'', meaning a [[market town]] or medieval village, itself derived from [[Latin language|Late Latin]] ''burgus'', meaning "[[fortress]]"<ref>[[American Heritage Dictionary]] [[etymology]]</ref> or "wall," the reference being to the merchant class which tended to set-up their store fronts along the outside of the medieval city wall, where traffic through the gates was an advantage and safety in event of an attack was easily accessible.
==See also==
{{wiktionary}}
* [[Virginia House of Burgesses]], the lower house of the first elected legislative assembly in the New World
==References==
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[[de:Burgess]]
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