ar, f., pl. ir, [Ulf. baurgs = πόλις, and once Nehem. vii.

2. = arx, castellum; A. S. burg, burh, byrig, = urbs and arx; Engl. borough and burgh; O. H. G. puruc, purc; late Lat. burgus; Ital. borgo; Fr. bourg; cp. Gr. πύργος; the radical sense appears in byrgja, to enclose; cp. also berg, a hill, and bjarga, to save, defend. Borg thus partly answers to town (properly an enclosure); and also includes the notion of Lat. arx, Gr. ακρόπολις, a castle. Old towns were usually built around a hill, which was specially a burg; the name is very freq. in old Teut. names of towns.]

I. a small dome-shaped hill, hence the Icel. names of farms built near to such hills, v. Landn. (Gl.) Hel. once uses the word in this sense, 81; v. the Glossary of Schmeller; brann þá Borgarhraun, þar var bærinn sem nú er borgin (viz. the volcanic hill Eld-borg), Landn. 78; göngum upp á borgina (the hill) ok tölum þar, Ísl. ii. 216; er borgin er við kend, Landn. 127; Borgar-holt, -hraun, -dalr, -höfn, -fjörðr, -lækr, -sandr; Arnarbælis-borg, Eld-borg (above) in the west of Icel. It may be questioned, whether those names are derived simply from the hill on which they stand (berg, bjarg), or whether such hills took their name from old fortifications built upon them: the latter is more likely, but no information is on record, and at present ‘borg’ only conveys the notion of a ‘hill;’ cp. hólar, borgir og hæðir, all synonymous, Núm. 2. 99.

II. a wall, fortification, castle; en fyrir innan á jörðunni görðu þeir borg (wall) umhverfis fyrir ófriði jötna … ok kölluðu þá borg Miðgarð, Edda 6; cp. also the tale of the giant, 25, 26; borg Ása, Vsp. 28; þeir höfðu gört steinvegg fyrir framan hellismunnann, ok höfðu sér þat allt fyrir borg (shelter, fortification), Fms. vii. 81; hann let göra b. á sunnanverðu Morhæfi (Murrey), Orkn. 10, 310, 312, 396, Fms. i. 124, xi. 393, Eg. 160; the famous Moussaburg in Shetland, cp. Orkn. 398.

III. a city, esp. a great one, as London, Hkr. ii. 10; Lisbon, iii. 234; York, 156; Dublin, Nj. 274; Constantinople, Fms. vii. 94; Nineveh, Sks. 592; Zion, Hom. 107, etc. This sense of the word, however, is borrowed from the South-Teut. or Engl. In Scandin. unfortified towns have -bæ or -by as a suffix; and the termin. -by marks towns founded by the Danes in North. E.

COMPDS: borgararmr, borgargreifi, borgargörð, borgarhlið, borgarhreysi, borgarklettr, borgarkona, borgarlið, borgarlím, borgarlýðr, borgarmaðr, borgarmúgr, borgarmúrr, borgarsiðr, borgarsmíð, borgarstaðr, borgarveggr, Borgarþing, borgaskipan.