Bürger

Forms

Bürger m (genitive Bürgers, plural Bürger, feminine Bürgerin)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German burgære, inherited from Old High German burgāri.^[2][3][1] On the face of it this is an agent noun of Burg with the suffix -āri, but the corresponding Old English burgware (“citizens”) suggests an old compound naming the inhabitants, Proto-West Germanic *burgwari, that was adapted to those agent nouns only after the regular loss of /w/.^[2][3][1] Gothic had a formation without the second element, Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌲𐌾𐌰 (baurgja, “citizen”).^[4][5]

The second element, Proto-Germanic *warōn or *wazōn, also appears in old tribal names such as Latin Ampsivarii (“dwellers on the Ems”) and Baioarii (“Bavarians”).^[2][3] It is usually connected with wehren, which would make the burgher originally a defender of the stronghold;^[3][6] Kluge finds a link with the Germanic verb for “to be, stay, dwell” (as in Wesen) more likely in sense, but doubts whether such a form could have appeared with /r/ in the old names.^[2]

The same word is Middle Low German borgere, Middle Dutch borger and Old Frisian burger.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Monsee fragments of the Gospel of Matthew, from the end of the 8th century, use the plural burgera for the townspeople who went out to meet Jesus;^[7][4] a gloss of the 11th century renders Latin oppidani “townsfolk”.^[4] Old High German burgāri meant the dweller in a castle or a town, a townsman, and Notker uses it too.^[7] In Middle High German poetry the burgære are the people of the castle, and the Nibelungenlied speaks of den burgæren von der stat “the burghers of the town”.^[8][5]

Semantic evolution

From the inhabitant of a fortified settlement the word moved to the inhabitant of a town in general;^[9] in the legal sense, from the 12th century, it meant the full member of a town community.^[3] As a member of a social estate the burgher stood between the nobility and the peasants,^[5] and Adelung (1774) defined the burghers as the third estate of a state, after the nobility and the clergy.^[10] Luther's Bible, following Latin civis, already used the word for the members of a people (“the citizens of Jericho”).^[10]

From the middle of the 17th century Bürger also means the inhabitant of a country, the citizen of a state, and in the 18th century Staatsbürger was formed for this.^[9] Kant tied citizenship to the right to vote on the laws.^[10] Bürgertum was formed around 1800 for French bourgeoisie,^[3] and in the middle of the 19th century, under the influence of French bourgeois, Bürger took on the negative reading “member of the propertied class”.^[9] Hungarian borrowed the word early as polgár, recorded in 1229.^[11]

Timeline

• Late 8th century – burgera in the Monsee fragments.^[7]
• 12th century – The legal sense “full member of a town community” appears.^[3]
• 1229 – Hungarian polgár is recorded.^[11]
• Mid-17th century – The sense “citizen of a state” appears.^[9]
• 1774 – Adelung defines the burghers as the third estate.^[10]
• 18th century – Staatsbürger is formed.^[9]
• c. 1800 – Bürgertum is formed for French bourgeoisie.^[3]
• Mid-19th century – The negative sense “member of the propertied class”.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A citizen: a member of a state.^[12][1]
2. An inhabitant of a town or municipality: die Bürger der Gemeinde.^[12][13]
3. A member of the middle class, with its traditions; a bourgeois.^[12][1]
4. (historical) A burgher, a freeman of a town, standing between the peasants and the nobility.^[1][5]

Word family

• bürgerlich
• Bürgertum
• Bürgerin
• Bürgerschaft
• Bürgermeister
• Bürgerwehr
• Staatsbürger
• Mitbürger
• ausbürgern
• einbürgern

Related words

• Burg
• wehren
• English burgher

Usage notes

Akademischer Bürger (dated) is a student, and Bürger in Uniform a soldier of the German Bundeswehr, a model that derives military duties from civic rights.^[12] The proverb Bürger und Bauer scheidet nichts als die Mauer “nothing but the wall divides burgher and peasant” is in the Grimms' dictionary.^[5] The feminine is Bürgerin, recorded from Middle High German.^[9][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 163
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 177
4. ^ a b c d Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob Grimm und Wilhelm Grimm, Neubearbeitung (1965–2018), ed. Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften and Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, 9 vols. (A–F), Leipzig / Stuttgart: Hirzel, p. 5, 1015
5. ^ a b c d e Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 2, 537
6. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
8. ^ Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 1, 395
9. ^ a b c d e f g Wortgeschichte digital (2020–), Zentrum für digitale Lexikographie der deutschen Sprache (ZDL), Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, zdl.org/wb/wortgeschichten
10. ^ a b c d Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
11. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
12. ^ a b c d Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
13. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org