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A borough is an administrative division in various countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. The word ''borough'' derives from common Germanic '' *Burg'', meaning ''fort'': compare with ''bury'', ''burgh'' and ''brough'' (England), ''burgh'' (Scotland), ''Burg'' (Germany), ''borg'' (Scandinavia), ''burcht'' (Dutch), and the Germanic borrowing present in neighbouring Indo-european languages such as ''borgo'' (Italian), ''bourg'' (French), ''burgo'' (Spanish and Portuguese), ''burg'' (Romanian), ''purg'' (Kajkavian) and ''durg'' (दर्ग) (Hindi) and ''arg'' (ارگ) (Persian). The incidence of these words as suffixes to place names (for example, Aldeburgh, Bamburgh, Tilbury, Tilburg, Strasbourg (Strossburi in the local dialect), Luxembourg, Edinburgh, Grundisburgh, Hamburg, Gothenburg) usually indicates that they were once fortified settlements. In the Middle Ages, boroughs were settlements in England that were granted some self-government; burghs were the Scottish equivalent. In medieval England, boroughs were also entitled to elect members of parliament. The use of the word ''borough'' probably derives from the burghal system of Alfred the Great. Alfred set up a system of defensive strong points (Burhs); in order to maintain these settlements, he granted them a degree of autonomy. After the Norman Conquest, when certain towns were granted self-governance, the concept of the burh/borough seems to have been reused to mean a self-governing settlement. The concept of the borough has been used repeatedly (and often differently) throughout the world. Often, a borough is a single town with its own local government. However, in some cities it is a subdivision of the city (for example, New York City, London and Montreal). In such cases, the borough will normally have either limited powers delegated to it by the city's local government, or no powers at all. In other places, such as Alaska, ''borough'' designates a whole region; Alaska's largest borough, the North Slope Borough, is comparable in area to the entire United Kingdom, although its population is less than that of Swanage. In Australia, a ''borough'' was once a self-governing small town, but this designation has all but vanished, except for the only remaining borough in the country, which is the Borough of Queenscliffe. Boroughs as administrative units are to be found in Ireland and the United Kingdom, more specifically in England and Northern Ireland. Boroughs also exist in the Canadian province of Quebec and formerly in Ontario, in some states of the United States, in Israel, formerly in New Zealand and only one left in Australia. ==Etymology== The word ''borough'' derives from the Old English word ''burh'', meaning a fortified settlement. Other English derivatives of ''burh'' include ''bury'', ''brough'' and ''burgh''. There are obvious cognates in other Indo-European languages. For example; ''burgh'' in Scots and Middle English; ''burg'' in German and Old English,〔The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition (2000)〕 ''borg'' in Scandinavian languages; ''parcus'' in Latin and ''pyrgos'' in Greek, ''برج'' (borj) in Persian. 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, and ''burgo'' in Spanish (hence the place-name Burgos). The 'burg' element is often confused with 'berg' meaning hill or mountain (cf. iceberg). Hence the 'berg' element in Bergen relates to a hill, rather than a fort. In some cases, the 'berg' element in place names has converged towards burg/borough; for instance Farnborough, from ''fernaberga'' (fern-hill). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Borough」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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