burglar
Pronunciation
- IPA: /ˈbɜːɡlə(ɹ)/ (UK); /ˈbɝɡlɚ/ (US)[1]
Etymology
It is borrowed from Anglo-Norman burgler,[2][3][4] an alteration of earlier burgesour,[2][3] influenced by Medieval Latin burglātor,[3][5][4] itself an alteration of burgātor,[3][5][4] from burgāre “to break open, commit burglary”,[2][3][5][4] from Late Latin burgus (“fortress, castle”).[2][3][5] Burgus is of Germanic origin and related to borough.[2][5] Etymonline suggests the unetymological -l- may be due to Latin latro “thief”.[5]
Earliest recorded meaning
One who is guilty of burglary (before 1268 in the OED;[6] 1541 in Barnhart and Merriam-Webster).[3][4]
Semantic evolution
The word has always meant a housebreaker.[6][1] Middle English had burgur and housbreker for the same thing.[5] Burglar alarm dates from 1840,[5][6] burglarize from 1871 in American English,[3] and the back-formation burgle from 1872.[3]
Timeline
- before 1268 – one guilty of burglary, in the OED's earliest citation.[6]
- 1532–33 – burglary, as a legal term.[3]
- 1541 – burglar in English.[3][4]
- 1840 – burglar alarm.[5][6]
- 1871 – burglarize, American English.[3]
- 1872 – burgle.[3]
Modern meaning
Noun
- A person who commits burglary, breaking into a building to steal.
Word family
- burglarious
- burglarize
- burglarproof
- burglary
- burgle
- burglar alarm
- cat burglar
References
- ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
- ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press