BURGESS

'Burgess' 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 originally also meant an inhabitant of town of city, but later acquired many other meanings not shared by "Burgess", especially being the basis for Bourgeoisie.

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See also

See also

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