Some English Words

Word Histories:
Borough-This goes back to Indo European "buhrgh/bhrgh" which meant "high place" (this aspect of the word gave Old English "beorg" and German "Berg," meaning "mountain." Besides this meaning, Old Germanic took a form of the word, "burgs," for "castle, fortress, protected place or stronghold," since most castles were built on high places for their military benefit. These castles provided protection to many people, and became fortified towns in many cases. Old English had "burg/burh," and eventually the fortification aspect began to die out (one source says about a thousand years ago), but the meaning of "town" or "municipality" continued. In some of the American colonies, these "burgs" later became part of larger cities, and thus we have to this day the additional meaning of "a part, community or neighborhood of a city," but also of a larger entity, like "county" in other parts of the U.S. Forms of the word are extensive in the Germanic languages, and as noted, close English relatives German and Dutch have "Burg/burg." (In standard German, all nouns are capitalized) Old Norse had "borg." Virtually all Germanic speaking countries/areas have cities with a form of the word for an ending. The spelling "Pittsburgh," for the city in PA, is supposedly a Scottish spelling, although "Pittsburg," the city in Kansas, uses the more traditional spelling, with no "h." The English form "bury" as part of a city/town name is also a related form, coming from Old English "byrig/burig." French, a Latin based language, with some Germanic influences, uses "bourg."

Town-Old Germanic had "tunan," which meant "fence, hedge." From this developed the idea of an "area enclosed with a fence; a yard, a garden." Further development gave the meaning "enclosed place with buildings and animals and a garden; that is, a farm." (This meaning of "farm" lasted quite a while, and indeed, Dutch, a close relative of English still has "tuin," which means "garden.") In Old English is was "tun," and by the 1200s, after the Norman Invasion, the word had developed into the meaning we still have today. In many cases, it replaced the word "burg." (See "borough" above) The closely related German word, "Zaun," (pronounced "tsown") still means "fence." That is the same basic word in many place names in England with "ton" as an ending. (Of course, many such names were transferred to the New World, too.)