burse

Burse is an English noun historically used as an alternative spelling of purse, referring to a pouch or bag for carrying money and small items. In Late Middle English and Scots, burse also served as a general term for a treasury or fund, especially within religious houses, colleges, or municipal bodies. In such contexts, the official responsible for managing the funds was known as the bursar, and the institution’s financial stock or treasury was referred to as the burse.

Etymology: The form burse derives from Old French bourse, meaning purse, itself from earlier Romance or Germanic roots. The modern everyday sense of the word purse has largely replaced burse in most dialects, though burse survives in historical writing and in the title of offices such as bursar.

Verbal usage: As a verb, purse means to pucker or contract, particularly the lips, or to fashion something into a rounded or pressed shape. The verb form purse is unrelated to the more modern noun burse in common usage, but the two share a common origin.

Modern usage: In contemporary English, burse is mainly seen in historical or ceremonial contexts and as part of fixed terms such as the bursar’s office or the phrase “the burse of the monastery.” Outside of scholarly or genealogical texts, the word is infrequently used and may cause confusion with purse or bourse, a related term in French for a stock exchange.