verge

Forms

verge f (plural verges)^[1] Old French verge and virge.^[1] Littré cites the Walloon form vég.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French verge, inherited from Latin virga (“flexible branch, rod”).^[3][4][5][6] Rey notes that the Latin word has no known etymology;^[4] Wiktionary suggests a Proto-Indo-European root *wisgeh₂ (“flexible rod”).^[1] In Latin the word already meant a twig, a shoot, a magic wand, a coloured stripe and, in the plural, the lictors' rods, and in Late Latin also the penis.^[4] Its doublet is vergue.^[5][7][1]

Cognate with Italian verga, Spanish verga, Old Occitan verga, Catalan verga and Romanian vargă.^[8][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) verge pelee is a long, straight and supple rod stripped of its bark: Plus qu'on ne lancet une verge pelee “further than one can throw a peeled rod”.^[3][2][4]

Semantic evolution

The word took over the many senses of the Latin.^[4] From about 1130–1140 it was the rod used to beat and punish, hence donner des verges pour se faire fouetter “to give one's enemies a weapon against oneself” and faire passer par les verges “make (a soldier) run the gauntlet” (1752).^[3][4] In religious language it named the instrument of God's anger (early 12th century) and, in the plural, the afflictions God sends (late 14th century), a sense lost in the 17th century.^[3][4]

As a symbol of authority it was a staff of office: être sous la verge de “to be under the authority of” (1204), the rod carried by officers of justice (late 13th century), sergent de la verge (1385), huissier à verge (1345) and later the verger's staff.^[3][4] Technical senses multiplied: part of a catapult's arm (about 1240), an iron measuring bar (1281), the lead bar of a stained-glass window (1340), the shank of an anchor (about 1425).^[3][4] A rod used for measuring gave a land measure (about 1240–1245) and a length for cloth (1244); in Canada, after 1760, verge became the French name of the yard.^[4][3][9]

Verge pelee was already a jocular name for the penis in the Roman de Renart (about 1195–1200), and verge alone has meant the male organ since the 13th century.^[4][3] Plant names such as verge d'or (1596) were formed from the sense “stem, rod”.^[3][4] The English verge comes from the Old French word; its sense “edge, rim” grew out of the rod as a sign of jurisdiction.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Verge pelee “peeled rod” appears in the Chanson de Roland.^[3]
• c. 1130–1140 – Wace uses it of a rod for punishing.^[3]
• c. 1195–1200 – The Roman de Renart uses verge pelee for the penis.^[3][4]
• 1204 – Estre sous la verge de “to be under the authority of” is recorded.^[3]
• c. 1240–1245 – It names a land measure.^[3][4]
• 1340 – It names the bar of a stained-glass window.^[3]
• 1596 – The plant name verge d'or is recorded.^[3]
• 1752 – Faire passer par les verges is recorded in the Dictionnaire de Trévoux.^[3]
• after 1760 – In Canada it becomes the unit of three feet.^[11][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (dated) A thin, flexible rod of wood or metal.^[11][3]
2. A rod or bundle of switches used to flog: donner des verges pour se faire fouetter “to hand one's opponents a stick to beat one with”.^[11][3]
3. A staff carried as a mark of office, as by a beadle or an usher.^[11][3]
4. (technical) A metal rod or shank in some instruments, such as the shank of an anchor.^[11][3]
5. (historical) An old land measure, a quarter of an arpent.^[11]
6. (Canada) A yard, a unit of length of three feet (0.914 m).^[11][9][1]
7. Verge d'or: goldenrod, Solidago.^[11][3]
8. The penis.^[11][1]

Word family

• vergée
• vergeté
• vergeter
• vergette
• vergeture
• vergeure
• enverger
• sous-verge

Related words

• vergue
• Latin virga
• English verge

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14, 490a
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
10. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert