Virgo

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English Virgō,^[2][3] inherited from Old English Virgō,^[4][5] borrowed from Latin virgō (“girl of marriageable age, virgin; the constellation”).^[5][3][6][7] According to Wiktionary, the Latin name is a calque of Ancient Greek παρθένος (parthénos, “virgin; the constellation”), itself a mythic reinterpretation of Mesopotamian names such as Akkadian absinnu (“seed furrow; a constellation”).^[1] The Latin noun is probably related to virga (“young shoot”), through a notion of youth, as Etymonline says;^[6] de Vaan reports that interpretation from Walde and Hofmann, and rejects a proposed compound with the words for "man" and "woman".^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The constellation: in the Old English of Ælfric's De Temporibus Anni.^[5] Etymonline dates the name to about 1000,^[6] Dictionary.com to before 1000,^[4] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged to before the 12th century;^[8] Hoad and Collins give the 14th century.^[9][10]

Semantic evolution

The Latin name was kept unchanged in astronomy and astrology.^[5][2] A text of Old English origin that the Middle English Dictionary dates before 1200 speaks of the sign "þe man Virgo nemneþ",^[2] and Chaucer used the name four times and Gower three.^[11] Gower explains: "Virgo the nexte Of Signes cleped is…Wherof the figure is a Maide".^[2] The personal sense belongs to astrology: the adjective for someone born under the sign is recorded from 1891,^[5] and the noun from 1917, in H. T. Waite's Compendium of Natal Astrology.^[5][6] Virgoan, for the adjective or the person, dates from the mid-20th century.^[12]

Timeline

• Old English – the constellation, in Ælfric.^[5] Etymonline dates it to about 1000.^[6]
• c. 1392 – the zodiacal sign, on the limb of a planetary equatorium.^[2]
• 1891 – adjective, of a person born under the sign.^[5]
• 1917 – noun, a person born under the sign.^[5][6]
• mid 20th century – the derivative Virgoan.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. (astronomy) A large zodiacal constellation on the celestial equator, between Leo and Libra, pictured as a young woman holding a spike of grain.^[8][10][5]
2. (astrology) The sixth sign of the zodiac, usually given as about 23 August to 22 September.^[12][10][4]
3. (astrology) A person born under this sign: My sister, a Virgo, labels everything in the kitchen.^[5][10][4]

Adjective

1. (astrology) Of or typical of a person born under this sign.^[5]

Word family

• Virgoan

Related words

• virgin
• virginal

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
12. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press