Edinburgh

1560s, "freeman of a burgh," from Middle Dutch burgher or German Bürger, from Middle High German burger, from Old High German burgari, literally "inhabitant of a fortress," from burg "fortress, citadel" (from PIE root *bhergh- (2) "high," with derivatives referring to hills and hill-forts). Burgh, as a native variant of borough, persists in Scottish English (as in Edinburgh) and in Pittsburgh.

city in Pennsylvania, U.S., founded 1754 by the French and called Fort Duquesne in honor of Michel-Ange Duquesne (1702-1778), governor of New France; captured by the British 1758 and renamed in honor of British statesman William Pitt the Elder (1708-1778). The Scottish -burgh is unusual in the U.S. (compare Edinburgh) and may be from the Scottish officers who led its capture in the Seven Years War. The spelling varied with -burg in 19c., but when the U.S. Board on Geographic Names regularized all -burgh spellings to -burg, the Pittsburghers protested, and the -h officially was restored in 1911