Etymologically
Log in

virgo

Etymology and origin of the Latin word virgo

History Permalink
Confidence
Unknown
First attested
Livius Andronicus

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈwɪr.ɡoː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈvir.ɡo][1]

Forms

virgō f (genitive virginis); third declension[1]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.[2][1] Walde and Hofmann took it as a derivative of virga “shoot, rod”, through a sense “young plant”, and the OLD compares virga too.[2][3] De Vaan rejects Ledo-Lemos' compound *wir-gwōn- “young woman”, since the word for “man” was *uiHro- and the analysis of the second part is not acceptable.[2] Lewis and Short connected Ancient Greek ὀργάω (orgáō, “to swell”).[4] An archaic spelling virco is found in an inscription.[3] Isidore of Seville derived it from the greener age of youth, like virga.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Livius Andronicus.[2] Köbler dates him 280/260 to before 200 BC.[6]

Semantic evolution

It meant a girl of marriageable age, a maiden, and a woman sexually intact, and occasionally a young man without sexual experience.[3] It was used of women living in permanent virginity, goddesses such as the Muses and Astraea.[3] It named the zodiacal sign Virgo, and the Aqua Virgo, an aqueduct of Rome famous for its cold water.[3] Döderlein distinguishes virgo, an unmarried woman of any age, from puella, a young woman married or not.[7] The Appendix Probi corrects vyrgo to virgo.[8]

In Medieval Latin it was used of consecrated virgins and nuns, and even of a chaste unmarried man.[9] English virgin came through Anglo-French about 1200.[10]

Timeline

  • 280/260–before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus uses it.[2][6]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a marriageable girl.[3][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the constellation Virgo.[3][6]
  • c. 1200 – English virgin is recorded.[10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A girl of marriageable age, a maiden.[3]
  2. A virgin, (masculine) a man without sexual experience.[3]
  3. A woman living in permanent virginity, as a goddess.[3]
  4. (astronomy) The constellation and zodiacal sign Virgo.[3]
  5. The Aqua Virgo, an aqueduct of Rome.[3]
  6. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A consecrated virgin, a nun.[9]

Word family

  • virginālis
  • virginārius
  • virgineus
  • virginitās
  • virginor

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  8. ^ Appendix Probi, a late antique list of correct and censured Latin word forms ("calida non calda"); ed. H. Keil, Grammatici Latini IV, Leipzig 1864, 197–199.
  9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
Cite this entry

“Virgo.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/virgo. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·