virgo

virgo (plural virgi)

1. virgin

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

• vircō (Old Latin)

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

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈwɪr.ɡoː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈvir.ɡo]

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.

   • 70 BCE, Cicero, In Verrem 2.1.107:

     Imitatus esses ipsum illum Q. Voconium, qui lege sua hereditatem ademit nulli neque virgini neque mulieri: sanxit in posterum, qui post eos censores census esset, ne quis heredem virginem neve mulierem faceret.

     • 1928 translation by L. H. G. Greenwood

       You might well have followed the example of Quintus Voconius himself, then: for his law did not deprive any girl or woman of her position of heiress if she had it already; it merely enjoined that no one, registered after the year of the censors named, should make a girl or woman his heiress in future.

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

   Synonym: intācta

   • 84 BCE, Cicero, De inventione 1.72:

     Sunt autem qui putant nonnunquam posse complexione supersederi, cum id perspicuum sit quod conficiatur ex ratiocinatione; quod si fiat, bipertitam quoque fieri argumentationem, hoc modo: "Si peperit, virgo non est: peperit autem."

     • 1949 translation by H. M. Hubbell

       There are, moreover, those who think that one may at times dispense with the conclusion when the result of the reasoning is perfectly clear; in this case the argument may also have only two parts, as follows: "If she has borne a child, she is not a virgin; but she has borne a child.

   • 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.)

   • c. 37 CE – 41 CE, Seneca the Elder, Controversiae 1.2.22:

     Alterius partis color nihil habet difficultatis: adparet quas praeposui. Dicendum est in puellam vehementer, non sordide nec obscene. Sordide, ut Bassus Iulius, qui dixit: "extra portam hanc virginem" et: "ostende istam aeruginosam manum," Vibius Rufus, qui dixit: "redolet adhuc fuliginem fornicis." Obscene, quemadmodum Murredius rhetor, qui dixit: “unde scimus an cum venientibus pro virginitate alio libidinis genere deciderit?" Hoc genus sensus memini quendam praetorium dicere, cum declamaret controversiam de illa quae egit cum viro malae tractationis quod virgo esset et damnavit: postea petit sacerdotium. Novimus, inquit, istam maritorum abstinentiam qui, etiamsi primam virginibus timidis remisere noctem, vicinis tamen locis ludunt. Audiebat illum Scaurus, non tantum disertissimus homo sed venustissimus, qui nullius umquam inpunitam stultitiam transire passus est; statim Ovidianum illud: "inepta loci," et ille excidit nec ultra dixit.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

3. (by extension) a young woman, girl

   Synonym: puella

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

In ancient Roman authors, virgō is usually applied to an unwed but marriageable young female citizen, distinguished from either a married female citizen (mātrōna) or a courtesan (meretrīx) and also potentially in contrast with mulier (literally "woman" but often used more specifically with the sense of "wife, married woman"). Like English 'virgin', the Latin term could be defined by the condition of having never had sexual intercourse. In this sense, virgō could be applied to a woman who had married but had not consummated the marriage. Per Watson 1983, the physical definition appears to become more frequent in later Latin.^[3]

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 woman 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”).

In ancient Rome, 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), although the use of the term was not rigidly restricted by age: it is also attested on grave inscriptions for individuals as young as 6 years and as old as 22.^[3] Hence, already in ancient times, virgō can alternatively denote simply young age ("young woman, girl").^[3] The meaning of virgō is generally narrower than that of puella (“girl”) in multiple respects. First, a girl younger than 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 a virgō; when applied to a young girl, virgō is usually used 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 sometimes 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]

Third-declension noun.

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.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • C.I.L. 6.24633:

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

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • Inscr. Orell. 4566:

     Se vivus emit et comparavit locum virginem

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

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".

• “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.

Borrowed from Latin virgō.

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

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

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

1. virgin

   No sabía que eran 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.

• “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], 10 December 2024

Borrowed from Latin virgō.

virgo

1. Virgin.