Online Etymology Dictionary

borough: O.E. burg, burh "fortified place, walled town, dwelling or dwellings within a fortified enclosure," from P.Gmc. *burgs "hill fort, fortress" (cf. O.Fris. burg "castle," O.N. borg "wall, castle," O.H.G. burg, buruc "fortified place, citadel," Ger. Burg "castle," Goth. baurgs "city"), from PIE *bhrgh "high," with derivatives referring to hills, hill forts, fortified elevations (cf. O.E. beorg "hill," Welsh bera "stack, pyramid," Skt. bhrant-, Avestan brzant- "high," Gk. Pergamos, name of the citadel of Troy). In Ger. and O.N., chiefly as "fortress, castle;" in Goth. "town, civic community." Meaning shifted M.E. from "fortress," to "fortified town," to simply "town" (especially one possessing municipal organization or sending representatives to Parliament). In U.S. (originally Pennsylvania, 1718) often an incorporated town; in Alaska, however, it is the equivalent of a county. The Scot. form is burgh. The O.E. dative singular byrig is found in many place names as -bury.
burgess: c.1200, burgeis "citizen of a borough," from O.Fr. borjois, L.L. burgensis (see bourgeois). Applied from late 15c. to borough representatives in Parliament and in Virginia and other colonies used to denote members of the legislative body, while in Pennsylvania, etc., it meant "member of the governing council of a borough."
Lambeth: used metonymically for "Church of England, Archbishop of Canterbury," 1859, from the archbishop's palace in Lambeth, a South London borough. The Lambeth Walk was a Cockney song and dance, popularized in Britain 1937 in the revue "Me and my Gal," named for a street in the borough.
Dodgers: U.S. baseball club, originally based in Brooklyn, N.Y., so called from 1900, from trolley dodgers, Manhattanites' nickname for Brooklyn residents, in reference to the streetcar lines that criss-crossed the borough.
burg: "town or city," 1843, Amer.Eng. colloquial, from many place names ending in -burg (see borough).
broch: prehistoric stone tower of the Scottish Highland and isles, 1650s, from Scot. broch, from O.N. borg "castle," cognate of O.E. burh (see borough).
burrow: "rabbit-hole, fox-hole, etc.," c.1300, borewe, from O.E. burgh "stronghold, fortress" (see borough); influenced by bergh "hill," and berwen "to defend, take refuge." The verb is first attested 1614. Related: Burrowed; borrowing.
bourgeoisie: 1707, "body of freemen in a French town; the French middle class," from Fr. bourgeois, from O.Fr. burgeis, borjois (12c.) "town dweller" (as distinct from "peasant"), from borc "town, village," from Frank. *burg "city" (see borough). Communist use for "the capitalist class generally" attested from 1886.
burgher: 1560s, "freeman of a burgh," from M.Du. burgher, from M.H.G. burger, from O.H.G. burgari "inhabitant of a fortress," from burg "fortress, citadel" (see borough).
faubourg: "suburb," 1470, from M.Fr. faux bourg, from O.Fr. forsbourc, lit. "that which is outside the town," from fors "outside" (from L. foris) + bourc "town," of Frank. origin (cognate with Eng. borough). Alt. in M.Fr. by folk-etymology to faux bourg "false town" (suburbs looked on as inauthentic).
burglar: 1540s, shortened from M.E. burgulator, from Anglo-L. burglator (late 13c.), from O.Fr. burgeor "burglar," from M.L. burgator "burglar," from burgare "to break open, commit burglary," from L. burgus "fortress, castle," a Gmc. loan-word akin to borough. The intrusive -l- is perhaps from influence of L. latro "thief," originally "hired servant." The native word was burgh-breche.
ghetto: 1611, from It. ghetto "part of a city to which Jews are restricted," various theories of its origin include: Yiddish get "deed of separation;" special use of Venetian getto "foundry" (there was one near the site of that city's ghetto in 1516); Egitto "Egypt," from L. Aegyptus (presumably in memory of the exile); or It. borghetto "small section of a town" (dim. of borgo, of Gmc. origin, see borough). Extended 1892 to crowded urban quarters of other minority groups. Ghetto-blaster "large portable stereo" is from 1982.
city: early 13c., from O.Fr. cite, in medieval usage a cathedral town, but originally meaning any settlement, regardless of size (distinction from town is 14c., though in English it always seems to have ranked above borough), from earlier citet, from L. civitatem (nom. civitas) orig. "citizenship, community of citizens," from civis "townsman," from PIE base *kei- "to lie, homestead." The L. word for "city" was urbs, but a resident was civis. Civitas seems to have replaced urbs as Rome (the ultimate urbs) lost its prestige. City hall first recorded 1670s; city slicker first recorded 1924 (see slick); both Amer.Eng. Inner city first attested 1968.
queen: O.E. cwen "queen, female ruler of a state, woman, wife," from P.Gmc. *kwoeniz, ablaut variant of *kwenon (source of quean), from PIE *gwen- "woman, wife" supposedly originally "honored woman" (cf. Greek gyné "a woman, a wife;" Gaelic bean "woman;" Skt. janis "a woman," gná "wife of a god, a goddess;" Avestan jainish "wife;" Armenian kin "woman;" O.C.S. zena, O.Pruss. genna "woman;" Goth. qino "a woman, wife; qéns "a queen"). English seems unique in I.E. in having a word for "queen" that is not a fem. derivative of the one for "king." The original sense seems to have been "wife," specialized by O.E. to "wife of a king." Used of chess piece from 1440, of playing card from 1575. Of bees from 1609 (until late 17c., they generally were thought to be kings; cf. "Henry V," I.ii). Meaning "male homosexual" (especially a feminine and ostentatious one) first recorded 1924; probably an alteration of quean in this sense. Queens, the New York borough, was named for Catherine of Braganza, queen of English King Charles II. Queen Anne first used 1878 for "style characteristic of the time of Queen Anne of Great Britain and Ireland," who reigned 1702-14.