| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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Appendix I
Indo-European Roots |
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| ENTRY: | bhergh-2 |
| DEFINITION: | High; with derivatives referring to hills and hill-forts. Oldest form *bher h-, becoming *bhergh- in centum languages.
Derivatives include iceberg, bourgeois, burglar, force, and fortify.
1a. barrow2, from Old English beorg, hill; b. iceberg, from Middle Dutch bergh, mountain; c. inselberg, from Old High German berg, mountain; d. Germanic compound *harja-bergaz (see koro-). a–d all from Germanic *bergaz, hill, mountain. 2. belfry, from Old French berfroi, tower, from Germanic compound *berg-frij-, “high place of safety,” tower (*frij-, peace, safety; see pr -). 3. Zero-grade form *bh gh-. a. borough, burg, from Old English burg, burh, byrig, (fortified) town; b. burgomaster, from Middle Dutch burch, town; c. bourg, bourgeois, burgess, burglar; faubourg, from Late Latin burgus, fortified place, and Old French burg, borough; d. burgher, from Old High German burg ri, townsman, from Germanic compound *burg-war n-, “city protector” (*warn-, protector; see wer-4). a–d all from Germanic *burgs, hill-fort. 4. Possibly suffixed zero-grade form *bhgh-to-. force, fort, fortalice, forte1, forte2, fortis, fortissimo, fortitude, fortress; comfort, deforce, effort, enforce, fortify, pianoforte, reinforce, from Latin fortis, strong (but this is also possibly from dher-). (Pokorny bhereh- 140.) |
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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