Editing Virginity (section)

==Etymology==
The word ''virgin'' comes via [[Old French]] ''virgine'' from the [[root (linguistics)|root]] form of Latin {{lang|la|[[wikt:virgo|virgo]]}}, [[Genitive case|genitive]] {{lang|la|virginis}}, meaning literally "maiden" or "[[almah|virgin]]"<ref>Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aentry%3D%2351070&redirect=true 'virgo'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200811080213/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aentry%3D%2351070&redirect=true |date=2020-08-11 }}, in ''[[A Latin Dictionary]]''.</ref> The words {{lang|la|[[wikt:virgino|virgino]]}} ("female virgin") and {{lang|la|[[wikt:virgulo|virgulo]]}} (literally "virgin person" but often used for a male virgin) are [[hyponyms]].{{cn|date=September 2024}}

The Latin word likely arose by analogy with a suit of [[lexeme]]s based on {{lang|la|vireo}}, meaning "to be green, fresh or flourishing", mostly with [[Botany|botanic]] reference—in particular, {{lang|la|virga}} meaning "strip of wood".<ref>[http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=virgin 'Virgin'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071224093545/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=virgin |date=2007-12-24 }}, ''[[Online Etymology Dictionary]]''.</ref>

The first known use of ''virgin'' in English is found in a [[Middle English]] manuscript held at [[Trinity College, Cambridge]] of about 1200:

{{Quote|Ðar haueð ... martirs, and confessors, and '''uirgines''' maked faier bode inne to women.<ref>''[[List of illuminated Anglo-Saxon manuscripts|Trinity College Homilies]]'' 185 [ms B.15.34 (369)]</ref>}}

In this, and many later contexts, the reference is specifically Christian, alluding to members of the Ordo Virginum (Order of Virgins), which applies to the [[consecrated virgin]]s known to have existed since the early church from the writings of the [[Church Fathers]].<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p123a9p4.htm 'Consecrated virgins and widows'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100906142233/https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p123a9p4.htm |date=2010-09-06 }}, ''[[Catechism of the Catholic Church]]'' 922–24.</ref>

By about 1300, the word was expanded to apply also to [[Mary (mother of Jesus)|Mary]], the mother of [[Jesus]], hence to sexual virginity explicitly:

{{Quote|Conceiud o þe hali gast, born o þe '''virgine''' marie.<ref>''[[Cursor Mundi]]'' 24977</ref>}}

Further expansion of the word to include virtuous (or naïve) young women, irrespective of religious connection, occurred over about another century, until by about 1400 we find:

{{Quote|Voide & vacand of vices as '''virgyns''' it ware.<ref>''[[Alexander Romance|The Wars of Alexander]]'' 4665</ref>}}

These are three of the eighteen definitions of ''virgin'' from the first edition of the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' (''OED1'', pages 230–232). Most of the ''OED1'' definitions, however, are similar.

The German word for "virgin" is {{lang|de|[[wikt:Jungfrau|Jungfrau]]}}. {{lang|de|Jungfrau}} literally means "young woman", but is not used in this sense anymore. Instead {{lang|de|junge Frau}} can be used. {{lang|de|Jungfrau}} is the word reserved specifically for sexual inexperience. As {{lang|de|[[wikt:Frau|Frau]]}} means "woman", it suggests a female referent. Unlike English, German also has a specific word for a male virgin {{lang|de|[[wikt:Jüngling|Jüngling]]}} ''(Youngling)''. It is, however, dated and rarely used. {{lang|de|Jungfrau}}, with some masculine modifier, is more typical, as evidenced by the film ''[[The 40-Year-Old Virgin]]'', about a 40-year-old male virgin, titled in German, {{lang|de|Jungfrau (40), männlich, sucht...}}.<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0405422/releaseinfo Release dates for ''The 40-Year-Old Virgin''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170310162945/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0405422/releaseinfo |date=2017-03-10 }} at the [[Internet Movie Database]]</ref> German also distinguishes between young women and [[girl]]s, who are denoted by the word {{lang|de|[[wikt:Mädchen|Mädchen]]}}. The English [[cognate]] "maid" was often used to imply virginity, especially in poetry – e.g. [[Maid Marian]], the love interest of the legendary outlaw [[Robin Hood]] in [[English folklore]].

German is not the only language to have a specific name for male virginity; in French, a male virgin is called a "[[wikt:puceau|puceau]]".

The Greek word for "virgin" is ''parthenos'' ([[wikt:παρθένος|παρθένος]], see [[Parthenon]]). Although typically applied to women, like English, it is also applied to men, in both cases specifically denoting absence of sexual experience. When used of men, it does not carry a strong association of "never-married" status. However, in reference to women, historically, it was sometimes used to refer to an engaged woman—''parthenos autou'' (παρθένος αὐτού, his virgin) = his [[Engagement|fiancée]] as opposed to ''gunē autou'' (γυνή αὐτού, his woman) = his wife. This distinction is necessary due to there being no specific word for wife (or husband) in Greek. By extension from its primary sense, the idea that a virgin has a sexual "blank slate",<ref name="Shanahan">"The emotional stress of [[Serial monogamy|serial]] non-marriage plays havoc with the possibility of partnering for life." Angela Shanahan, [http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/sex-revolution-robbed-us-of-fertility/story-e6frg6zo-1111114422989 'Sex revolution robbed us of fertility'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140509132306/http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/sex-revolution-robbed-us-of-fertility/story-e6frg6zo-1111114422989 |date=2014-05-09 }}, ''[[The Australian]]'' 15 September 2007.</ref> unchanged by any past intimate connection or experience,<ref name="Shanahan" /> can imply that the person is of unadulterated purity.

The English sense is not retricted to youth or females; older women can be virgins ([[Elizabeth I of England|the Virgin Queen]]), men can be virgins, and potential initiates into many fields can be colloquially termed ''virgins''; for example, a skydiving "virgin". In the latter usage, ''virgin'' means uninitiated, as in the much older ''virgin knight''. "Virgin" is also used as an adjective in terms like ''[[:wiktionary:virgin field|virgin field]]''.