Burghers

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A member of the affluent urban middle class, often involved in commerce or trade
2. An inhabitant or citizen of a town or municipality, particularly in historical contexts
3. A person holding the rights and privileges associated with a town, especially in terms of civic participation and governance

Etymology: The surprise in "burghers" is that its core is a word for a fortress. Old High German "burgāri" meant "inhabitant of a fortress," built from "burg," a stronghold or citadel. Its ancestor, Proto-Germanic "burgz," sits behind the English "borough," "bury" in its old sense of a fortified place, and many town names ending in "-burgh" or "-bury." A town, in other words, was defined by the walls that enclosed it. The word reached English in Middle English as "burger," with the sense of an inhabitant of a borough, formed from "burgh" plus the suffix "-er" meaning "inhabitant of." It was probably reinforced by the closely related Middle Dutch "burgher," which carried the same meaning, and by Middle High German "burger," the ancestor of modern German "Bürger." The Old English "burgwaras," meaning inhabitants of a burg or citizens, shows that the idea was already present in English long before these later influences. The English plural "burghers" is the form used for townspeople, especially in historical contexts, where the word names the enfranchised residents of a medieval town.

Synonyms: citizens, townspeople, inhabitants, residents, dwellers

Antonyms: outsiders, noncitizens, foreigners, strangers