[OSM-talk] Castles and Palaces

[Martin Koppenhoefer]

2009/6/5  <Ekkehart at gmx.de>:
> Hi!
>> Burg: a fortress or a walled town
>> (according to my 1990 vintage Chambers English Dictionary).
>>
>> So I'd say the English for burg is burg, and yes this is pointless.
>
> Actually, this is a false friend. A Burg is a considerably smaller fortification than a fortress (Festung in German) and in modern language it is never used for a walled town.
>
> This shows that you have been mislead by the use of German terms and are rather illustrating my point.

No, you are again proofing that you are not familiar with the meaning
of "burg" not even in German. A walled town called burg in English
would be a Stadtburg (burgartig befestigte Stadt) in German, and is
perfectly corresponding (though not all walled towns are burgs, again
depends on typology/construction date).

Btw: the difference between "Festung" and "Burg" in German is the time
of construction (and therefore typology, technique, etc.). In the
middleages they were synonimous ("Veste").

Martin