Thomas Mann was German, so he most definitely was not a "burgher", he was just a "Bürger". And the German "Bürger" is just "citizen" in English.

▲ ffuxlpff 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

It meant an upper middle class urban citizen, while "Kleinbürger" was their lower middle class counterpart. Buddenbrooks was all about Bürgers, their history and lifestyle. Mann was a member of that class or even of its upper crust, the patricians.

▲ rubberpoliceman 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

This isn’t hard to understand. “Burgher” is a perfectly legitimate translation of “Bürger” as in “bürgerlicher Mittagstisch”, “Der Bürger duldet nichts Unverständliches im Haus”. “Citizen” is a perfectly legitimate translation of “Bürger” when it comes to “Bürgeramt” or “Weltbürger”.

▲ auggierose 4 days ago | parent [-]

Well, Bürger means citizen, and bürgerlich means middle-class. Indeed, not hard to understand.

▲ rubberpoliceman 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

Excellent. Now do “bürgerliches Gesetzbuch”.

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eru 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

The trolling of auggierose aside, whatever the bürgerliches Gesetzbuch might literally translate to, it is a triumph of the burghers, the bourgeoisie.

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auggierose 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Law that applies only to the middle-class. Duh.

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lukan 4 days ago | parent [-]

But you do know it applies to everyone in germany?

	▲	Towaway69 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		Cynicism is punishment looking for a crime.

▲ eru 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Please tell me you are trolling?

https://de.wiktionary.org/wiki/B%C3%BCrger says:

Bedeutungen:

    [1a] Einwohner einer Gemeinde
    [1b] Angehöriger eines Staates
    [2] Angehöriger der Mittelschicht, des Bürgertums

▲ eru 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Did you know that some words have multiple meanings?

See eg https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gro%C3%9Fb%C3%BCrger or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Burgher or https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleinb%C3%BCrger