vergine

Forms

vergine m or f by sense (plural vergini)^[1] Old forms include vergene, verzene, virgene and virgine.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin virgo (“girl of marriageable age; virgin”), taken from its accusative.^[4][5][6][1] GDLI calls it a learned word and DEI a semi-learned one.^[2][7] In Latin the word was used of women and female animals and, in imperial times, also of all kinds of things: Pliny speaks of untouched soil as a virgin land.^[4][8]

In Ecclesiastical Latin the word named the Madonna, translating Ancient Greek παρθένος (parthénos), and Nocentini explains by this why the Romance languages mostly have learned forms: French vierge and Spanish virgen are learned, while a popular form survives in Romanian only as a name of the Virgin.^[5] Further forms are Catalan verge and Portuguese virgem.^[9] The name of the constellation is a calque of the Greek name.^[7] The Latin derivatives virginālis, virgineus and virginitās came into Italian mainly through the language of the Church.^[4]

The origin of the Latin word is unknown.^[4][10][2] Like the Greek word, it has no counterpart elsewhere in Indo-European.^[4] Nocentini thinks it probably comes from vir (“man, husband”), as a woman ready for a husband.^[5] DEI connects it with virga (“twig, rod”), a view de Vaan reports from Walde and Hofmann.^[7][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Dante (1300–1313), with the sense “girl, young unmarried woman”;^[4][6] Dante also names the Madonna as la Vergine in 1304–1308.^[4][6] The abstract vergenitate “virginity” is recorded a little earlier, in Jacopone da Todi before 1306.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th century the noun meant a woman who had never had sexual intercourse (Dante, Boccaccio, Sacchetti), and in the plural the nuns who had taken a vow of chastity (Dante, before 1321); Dante has the line i' fui nel mondo vergine sorella (“in the world I was a virgin sister”).^[4][12] Giovanni Villani applied it to a man before 1348.^[4] As an adjective it was used of people by Boccaccio (1348–1353), and of female animals around 1340, in the Italian Palladius.^[4] The Madonna entered many invocations (Vergine santa).^[4][10]

From the 16th century Vergine named the sixth sign of the zodiac (1552, A. Piccolomini).^[4] The sense “natural, not worked or changed” goes back to Cellini (before 1571), and later produced foreste vergini, olio vergine and lana vergine.^[4][8][6] Manzoni used the adjective for “free of”: vergin di servo encomio / e di codardo oltraggio (“untouched by servile praise and by cowardly insult”).^[6][13] In modern use it also describes a blank tape or disc.^[6][1]

Timeline

• 1300–1313 – Dante uses vergine for a girl or young woman.^[4]
• Before 1306 – Jacopone da Todi has vergenitate “virginity”.^[4]
• 1304–1308 – Dante calls the Madonna la Vergine.^[4][6]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses vergini for nuns.^[4]
• c. 1340 – The Italian Palladius applies the adjective to female animals.^[4]
• Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses the noun of a man.^[4]
• 1552 – A. Piccolomini names the zodiac sign.^[4]
• Before 1571 – Cellini uses vergine for “natural, unworked”.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of a person, virgin: who has never had full sexual intercourse: Si dice che sia rimasto vergine fino al matrimonio.^[6][13][12]
2. In a natural state, not changed or worked by people: una foresta vergine, olio vergine, lana vergine.^[6][13][12]
3. Of a tape, disc or film, blank, not yet recorded or exposed.^[6][13][1]
4. (figurative) Of a field of study or activity, not yet explored: terreno vergine.^[6][13]
5. (figurative) Pure, innocent: un cuore vergine.^[6][13][12]
6. (literary) Free from, untouched by (with di): vergin di servo encomio (Manzoni).^[6][13][12]

Noun

1. A woman who has never had full sexual intercourse; also a man in that state.^[6][14][3]
2. la Vergine: the Madonna, the Virgin Mary: Accese una candela alla Vergine.^[6][13][12]
3. (chiefly plural) Nuns, women who have vowed chastity.^[6][14][3]
4. (literary) An epithet of pagan goddesses such as Diana and Minerva, and of the Vestals and the Muses.^[6][13][14]
5. (literary) A girl, young woman.^[6][13][12]
6. (astrology, astronomy) Vergine: Virgo, the sixth sign of the zodiac and the constellation; also a person born under it.^[6][12][10]
7. (nautical, dated) A tackle made of two blocks joined at one base.^[14][10][3]

Word family

• verginità
• verginale
• verginella
• sverginare
• virgineo
• extravergine
• sverginamento

Related words

• Latin virgo
• French vierge

Usage notes

Vergine di Norimberga is the iron maiden, a torture device;^[14][3] vergine di Numidia the demoiselle crane.^[14][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
3. ^ a b c d e f Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 4021
8. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
9. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
10. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ a b c d e f g h Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
14. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli