burgensis

Forms

burgēnsis (neuter burgēnse); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin burgus (“fort, walled town”) + -ēnsis.^[1][2][3] The MLW compares Old High German burgari.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates the noun, meaning an inhabitant of a castle or town, a burgher, to a charter of 1007, and the adjective to a charter of 1182.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Medieval Latin the adjective meant belonging to a castle, belonging to a town, or of the status of a citizen.^[4][2][1] As a noun it named the inhabitant of a rural bourg and the townsman or burgess,^[4] often in the plural for the citizens as a body,^[2] and sometimes a woman of that status.^[3] British sources use it both for townsmen on the Continent and for the burgesses of English, Welsh and Irish boroughs;^[5] in England it also came to mean a borough's representative in Parliament.^[1] It passed into Old French borgeis, the source of French bourgeois and of English burgess.^[1][6]

Timeline

• 1007 – A charter uses the noun for an inhabitant of a castle or town.^[3]
• 1085–1086 – The Domesday Book counts the burgesses of English boroughs.^[5][7]
• 1182 – A charter uses the adjective.^[3]
• c. 1200 – English has burgeis, later burgess, through Old French.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (Medieval Latin) Belonging to a castle.^[4][2]
2. (Medieval Latin) Of a town; of the status of a citizen.^[2][1]

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) An inhabitant of a rural bourg or fortified settlement.^[4][1]
2. (Medieval Latin) A townsman, burgher, burgess; in the plural, the citizens of a town as a body.^[4][2][5]
3. (Medieval Latin, England) A borough's representative in Parliament.^[1]

Related words

• English burgess
• English bourgeois

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d e Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
5. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin