by PolackTony » Sun Oct 24, 2021 5:26 pm
Antiliar wrote: ↑Sun Oct 24, 2021 12:05 am
Borgata is related to burger, burgher, and bourgeoisie. "The Modern French word bourgeois (French: [buʁʒwa]; English: /ˈbʊərʒ.wɑː, ˌbʊərˈʒwɑː/) derived from the Old French burgeis (walled city), which derived from bourg (market town), from the Old Frankish burg (town); in other European languages, the etymologic derivations include the Middle English burgeis, the Middle Dutch burgher, the German Bürger, the Modern English burgess, the Spanish burgués, the Portuguese burguês, and the Polish burżuazja, which occasionally is synonymous with the "intelligentsia".[4] In its literal sense, bourgeois in Old French (burgeis, borjois) means "town dweller"." As for borough: "The word borough derives from the Old English word burg, burh, meaning a fortified settlement; the word appears as modern English bury, -brough, Scots burgh,[1] borg in Scandinavian languages, Burg in German. A number of other European languages have cognate words that were borrowed from the Germanic languages during the Middle Ages, including brog in Irish, bwr or bwrc, meaning "wall, rampart" in Welsh, bourg in French, burg in Catalan (in Catalonia there is a town named Burg), borgo in Italian, burgo in Portuguese and Castilian (hence the place-name Burgos), the -bork of Lębork and Malbork in Polish and the -bor of Maribor in Slovenian." So all the words have a common ancestor. [Citations from Wikipedia articles]
Good overview. My understanding is that the old Frankish usage is thought to trace back (via proto-Germanic) to a postulated proto-Indo-European root referring to a fortified/elevated place (hills obviously being advantageous for a fortified settlement). The modern sense of “bourgeoisie” as referring to the capitalist class derives from medieval and early modern usages where “town-dweller” was synonymous with the merchant class as a protected group outside of the dominant class system based on feudal landholdings. This merchant class was the foundation, of course, for the emergence of a new system of production and production relations that displaced and abolished the various forms of feudal production.
Antiliar wrote:
Getting back to "Outfit," Rockford, Madison, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Kansas City, and even Pittsburgh used the term. Cleveland seems to have used Outfit and Syndicate. In Detroit they used the Outfit, the Organization, the People, and the Syndicate. According to the Online Etymological Dictionary, "outfit" is known to have meant "a group of people" since 1883. It was obviously used as a euphemism for "gang" and Fratellanza just like Cosa Nostra was. Even "fratellanza" is pretty generic since it means "brotherhood" or "fraternity." In its formative years, each borgata had its own name.
It seems to me that, at least up until more recent decades, “syndicate” was probably the most universally used euphemism for the US mafia, given that “cosa nostra” was not in general use outside of the East Coast. Probably another example of an etic (outsider) term becoming popularized via LE and the media and then in turn becoming adopted by the organization itself. Like “outfit”, “syndicate” wad used to refer to both/either a specific family as well as the broader national LCN organization.
[quote=Antiliar post_id=210420 time=1635059102 user_id=77]
Borgata is related to burger, burgher, and bourgeoisie. "The Modern French word bourgeois (French: [buʁʒwa]; English: /ˈbʊərʒ.wɑː, ˌbʊərˈʒwɑː/) derived from the Old French burgeis (walled city), which derived from bourg (market town), from the Old Frankish burg (town); in other European languages, the etymologic derivations include the Middle English burgeis, the Middle Dutch burgher, the German Bürger, the Modern English burgess, the Spanish burgués, the Portuguese burguês, and the Polish burżuazja, which occasionally is synonymous with the "intelligentsia".[4] In its literal sense, bourgeois in Old French (burgeis, borjois) means "town dweller"." As for borough: "The word borough derives from the Old English word burg, burh, meaning a fortified settlement; the word appears as modern English bury, -brough, Scots burgh,[1] borg in Scandinavian languages, Burg in German. A number of other European languages have cognate words that were borrowed from the Germanic languages during the Middle Ages, including brog in Irish, bwr or bwrc, meaning "wall, rampart" in Welsh, bourg in French, burg in Catalan (in Catalonia there is a town named Burg), borgo in Italian, burgo in Portuguese and Castilian (hence the place-name Burgos), the -bork of Lębork and Malbork in Polish and the -bor of Maribor in Slovenian." So all the words have a common ancestor. [Citations from Wikipedia articles]
[/quote]
Good overview. My understanding is that the old Frankish usage is thought to trace back (via proto-Germanic) to a postulated proto-Indo-European root referring to a fortified/elevated place (hills obviously being advantageous for a fortified settlement). The modern sense of “bourgeoisie” as referring to the capitalist class derives from medieval and early modern usages where “town-dweller” was synonymous with the merchant class as a protected group outside of the dominant class system based on feudal landholdings. This merchant class was the foundation, of course, for the emergence of a new system of production and production relations that displaced and abolished the various forms of feudal production.
[quote=Antiliar]
Getting back to "Outfit," Rockford, Madison, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Kansas City, and even Pittsburgh used the term. Cleveland seems to have used Outfit and Syndicate. In Detroit they used the Outfit, the Organization, the People, and the Syndicate. According to the Online Etymological Dictionary, "outfit" is known to have meant "a group of people" since 1883. It was obviously used as a euphemism for "gang" and Fratellanza just like Cosa Nostra was. Even "fratellanza" is pretty generic since it means "brotherhood" or "fraternity." In its formative years, each borgata had its own name.
[/quote]
It seems to me that, at least up until more recent decades, “syndicate” was probably the most universally used euphemism for the US mafia, given that “cosa nostra” was not in general use outside of the East Coast. Probably another example of an etic (outsider) term becoming popularized via LE and the media and then in turn becoming adopted by the organization itself. Like “outfit”, “syndicate” wad used to refer to both/either a specific family as well as the broader national LCN organization.