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explaining the civil war to americans: "imagine if slaves had no burger" (lemmy.blahaj.zone)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 57 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

Lol. For those wondering, bürger in german means civilian. It comes from Burg which means town, hence the city Hamburg, after which hamburgers are named.

So Bürgerkrieg is Civil(ian) war.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Excuse me, but Burg is a castle build for defence. People of the area could get behind their walls in a case of attack, so many settled in close proximity for safety. The resulting town was often called Burg in the middle ages, but thats not true for today.

In todays language Burg does not mean town anymore. It is only used for a kind of castle. You can't ask "In welcher Burg wohnst du?"

Unless you still live in the middle ages of course.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Thanks for the clarification.

For anyone wondering, the story is a little more muddy:

Old Frisian burich "castle, city," Old Norse borg "wall, castle," Old High German burg, buruc "fortified place, citadel," German Burg "castle," Gothic baurgs "city"), which Watkins derives from from PIE root *bhergh- (2) "high," with derivatives referring to hills, hill forts, and fortified elevations.

In German and Old Norse, chiefly as "fortress, castle;" in Gothic, "town, civic community."

https://www.etymonline.com/word/burg

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago

Additionally, in German the hamburger or burger is written with a simple u, not ü, Hamburger or Burger.