Burgess

Burgess is an English word that originally meant a freeman of a borough or burgh. It later came to mean an elected or un-elected official of a municipality, or the representative of a borough in the English House of Commons.

The word is linguistically close to the French "Bourgeois", which evolved from the Old French word "burgeis", meaning "an inhabitant of a town" (cf. Middle English "burgeis", Middle Dutch "burgher" and German "Bürger"). The Old French word "burgeis" is derived from "bourg", meaning a market town or medieval village, itself derived from Late Latin "burgus", meaning "fortress" [American Heritage Dictionary etymology] or "wall," the reference being to the merchant class which tended to set-up their store fronts along the outside of the medieval city wall, where traffic through the gates was an advantage and safety in event of an attack was easily accessible.

ee also

* Virginia House of Burgesses, the lower house of the first elected legislative assembly in the New World

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