virgo

See also: Virgo

Ido

Noun

virgo (plural virgi)

1. virgin

Hyponyms

• virgino (“female virgin”)
• virgulo (“male virgin”)

Latin

Alternative forms

• vircō (Early Latin)

Etymology

Uncertain;^[1] one hypothesis is that it is related to virga (“young shoot”).^[2]

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈu̯ir.ɡoː/, [ˈu̯ɪrɡoː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈvir.ɡo/, [ˈvirɡo]

Noun

virgō f (genitive virginis); third declension

1. a maiden, maid; an unmarried young woman or girl (typically nubile, i.e., of marriageable age and social status)
   • 160 BCE, Publius Terentius Afer, Adelphoe :

     Mater virginis in medio est.

     The maiden's mother is alive.

   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 6.289–290:

     quid mīrum, virgō sī virgine laeta ministrā
     admittit castās ad sua sacra manūs?

     What wonder [is there] if a virgin, [who] delights in [having] a virgin attendant, admits [only] chaste hands to her sacred rites?
     (See Vesta (mythology); Vestalia.)

2. a virgin; someone (female) who has never experienced sexual intercourse

   Synonym: intāctus

3. (by extension) a young woman, girl

   Synonym: puella

4. (by extension, Ecclesiastical Latin, of the Church Fathers) a male virgin

Usage notes

Ancient Roman authors use virgō primarily as a term for an unwed but marriageable young female citizen, as distinguished from either a married female citizen (mātrōna) or a courtesan (meretrīx) (also potentially in contrast with mulier, literally "woman" but often used more specifically with the sense of "wife, married woman"). In this social context, a virgō would typically have an age somewhere around 12 to 19 years (outside of special contexts such as the Vestal Virgins, sworn to celibacy for at least 30 years) and was supposed to remain chaste until marriage: however, lack of physical sexual experience was not necessarily an essential part of the definition in all contexts. Varro uses the term in a passage that claims that per the customs of Illyricum, it was normal for women to remain unmarried up to the age of twenty and be regarded as virginēs ("virgines ibi appellant”) regardless of whether they had engaged in sexual intercourse or had children before marriage. In addition, there are cases where Roman authors use virgō to refer to an unmarried girl or women who had been physically violated without her consent, and so was not considered to have transgressed the norm of chastity herself.^[3] Compare ancient Greek παρθένος (parthénos, “maiden; unmarried young woman”).

Already in ancient times, virgō can alternatively denote simply young age ("young woman, girl") or lack of physical experience with sexual intercourse ("virgin"), and in later authors these senses, particularly the latter, become increasingly frequent.^[3]

The meaning overlaps somewhat with that of puella (“girl”); the latter term is generally broader in multiple respects. First, a girl below marriageable age (12 years at minimum per Roman law, although marriages at earlier ages are attested in practice) is normally referred to as a puella, not virgō, although virgō is occasionally applied to a young girl, usually with a qualifying adjective such as parva (“small”). Second, puella could be used to refer to a young married woman or to a young female lover or mistress (this usage is common in erotic poetry). Third, it seems that puella, etymologically a diminutive form, could have an affectionate tone, and might sometimes be used for that reason to refer to a girl who could also be described as a virgō.^[3]

Declension

Third-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	virgō	virginēs
genitive	virginis	virginum
dative	virginī	virginibus
accusative	virginem	virginēs
ablative	virgine	virginibus
vocative	virgō	virginēs

Derived terms

• virginālis
• virginārius
• virgineus
• virginitās
• virginor
• virgō Vestālis

 

Descendants

• Albanian: virgjër
• Aromanian: virghirã
• Asturian: virxe
• Catalan: verge
• English: virgin
• Piedmontese: verzo, vergio
• Ligurian: verzo
• French: vierge
• Friulian: virgin
• Galician: virxe
• Italian: vergine
• Lithuanian: mergelė (calque)
• Occitan: verge
• Papiamentu: vírgen
• Portuguese: virgem
• Romanian: virgin, vergură
• Sicilian: vìrgini
• Spanish: virgen, virgo
• Walloon: viêdge

Adjective

virgō f

1. (usually of a woman) virgin, unwedded
   • 54 BCE – 51 BCE, Cicero, De re publica 2.37.63:

     […] cum Decimus quidam Verginius virginem filiam propter unius ex illis X viris intemperiem in foro sua manu interemisset

     […] that a certain Decimus Virginius was obliged, on account of the libidinous violence of one of these decemvirs, to stab his virgin daughter in the midst of the forum

2. (of a thing, usually grammatically feminine) untouched, unused, uncultivated, pure
   • c. 77 CE – 79 CE, Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 33.15:

     […] terram virginem […]

     […] virgin soil […]

   • 86 CE – 103 CE, Martial, Epigrammata 1.66.7:

     Secreta quaere carmina et rudes curas,
     quas novit unus scrinioque signatas
     custodit ipse virginis pater chartae,
     quae trita duro non inhorruit mento.

   • C.I.L. 6.24633 :

     D. M. L. Pomponius Pantagathus comparavit monumentum virginem sibi et suis p.que

   • Inscr. Orell. 4566 :

     Se vivus emit et comparavit locum virginem

Usage notes

Used with adjectival sense, but can be interpreted grammatically as a noun in apposition; the declension is the same as that of the noun. Typically used as a modifier of feminine nouns, but some examples with male or neuter nouns are attested.^[3] Compare the use of anus (“old woman”) as an adjective (usually only in combination with feminine nouns) meaning "aged, old".

References

1. Ernout, Alfred, Meillet, Antoine (1985) “virgo”, in Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue latine: histoire des mots‎ (in French), 4th edition, with additions and corrections of Jacques André, Paris: Klincksieck, published 2001, page 740
2. De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “virgō”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 682
3. Watson, Patricia (1983) “Puella and Virgo”, in Glotta, volume 61, number 1./2., pages 119-143

Further reading

• “virgo”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “virgo”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• virgo in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• virgo in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin virgō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbiɾɡo/ [ˈbiɾ.ɣ̞o]
• Rhymes: -iɾɡo
• Syllabification: vir‧go

Noun

virgo m (plural virgos)

1. (singular only) Virgo, a constellation and sign in astrology

   Ella es virgo y nosotras sagitario.

   She is a Virgo but we're Sagitarius.

2. hymen

Adjective

virgo (feminine virga, masculine plural virgos, feminine plural virgas)

1. virgin

   No sabía que érais virgos.

   I didn't know you guys were virgins.

2. (colloquial, El Salvador) funny and vulgar

   Ese siempre es virgo con sus chistes.

   That guy is always funny and vulgar with his jokes.

Further reading

• “virgo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

Tok Pisin

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin virgō.

Noun

virgo

1. Virgin.