The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 21.0460 Tuesday, 21 December 2010
[1] From: Alex Went <
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Date: November 18, 2010 12:10:21 PM EST
Subj: Re: SHK 21.0453 Titus Andronicus (Etymology Query)
[2] From: John W Kennedy <
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Date: November 18, 2010 8:09:07 PM EST
Subj: Re: SHK 21.0453 Titus Andronicus (Etymology Query)
[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: Alex Went <
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Date: November 18, 2010 12:10:21 PM EST
Subject: 21.0453 Titus Andronicus (Etymology Query)
Comment: Re: SHK 21.0453 Titus Andronicus (Etymology Query)
>Does anybody know if the word 'virgin' is cognate with the tale
>of Virginius, recorded in Livy as slaying his daughter Virginia
>to prevent her losing her chastity to Appius' ravishment (see
Titus, 5.3.36-8)? No editor of the play attempts or even acknowledges
>this question, and OED offers no satisfactory etymological explanation.
>I therefore realise this may a tough one to answer, but I thought I'd
>throw it out there in the hope that someone knows, or, at least, that
>others might agree with me in acknowledging that this is an interesting
>and obvious question for editions of the play to address.
>
>Hopefully,
>Will Sharpe
Virginia, as Boccacio tells us in his re-telling of the story, 'was a virgin in name
and fact', so if you're asking which came first, the virgin or Virginia, the answer
is virgin. Virgo is third declension with stem 'virgin-' just as 'homo' (man) has
the stem 'homin-'. This explains the second syllable in 'virgin', 'virginity' and so
on. Ultimately, 'virgo' is probably derived from 'virga', a stem or rod, in the same
way that Greek talis (a girl of marriageable age) is cognate with Latin 'talea' (rod
or bar).
I imagine that she took her father's nomen (Virginius or Verginius) as standard
practice, rather than as some weird self-fulfilling prophecy.
[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: John W Kennedy <
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Date: November 18, 2010 8:09:07 PM EST
Subject: 21.0453 Titus Andronicus (Etymology Query)
Comment: Re: SHK 21.0453 Titus Andronicus (Etymology Query)
>Does anybody know if the word 'virgin' is cognate with the tale
>of Virginius, recorded in Livy as slaying his daughter Virginia
>to prevent her losing her chastity to Appius' ravishment (see
Titus, 5.3.36-8)? No editor of the play attempts or even acknowledges
>this question, and OED offers no satisfactory etymological explanation.
>I therefore realise this may a tough one to answer, but I thought I'd
>throw it out there in the hope that someone knows, or, at least, that
>others might agree with me in acknowledging that this is an interesting
>and obvious question for editions of the play to address.
>
>Hopefully,
>Will Sharpe
Ancient sources usually spell the name "Verginius", and the word "virgo", so
probably not.
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