bhergh-2. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

Appendix I

Indo-European Roots

ENTRY:	bhergh-²
DEFINITION:	High; with derivatives referring to hills and hill-forts. Oldest form bherh-, 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 bhgh-. 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 burgri, townsman, from Germanic compound burg-warn-, “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.)


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.