Editing Virgil (section)

==== Spelling of name ====
By the fourth or fifth century AD the original spelling ''Vergilius'' had been changed to ''Virgilius'', and then the latter spelling spread to the modern European languages.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Comparetti|first1=Domenico|title=Vergil in the Middle Ages|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0691026787|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-6wGE9Ylmj4C&pg=PR7|access-date=23 November 2016|language=en|year=1997}}</ref> This latter spelling persisted even though, as early as the 15th century, the classical scholar [[Poliziano]] had shown ''Vergilius'' to be the original spelling.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Wilson-Okamura|first1=David Scott|title=Virgil in the Renaissance|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0521198127|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WTaNUGscVhIC&pg=PA15|access-date=23 November 2016|language=en|year=2010}}</ref> Today, the [[anglicisation]]s ''Vergil'' and ''Virgil'' are both considered acceptable.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Winkler|first1=Anthony C.|last2=McCuen-Metherell|first2=Jo Ray|title=Writing the Research Paper: A Handbook|publisher=Cengage Learning|isbn=978-1133169024|page=278|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PUMIAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA278|access-date=23 November 2016|language=en|year=2011}}</ref>

There is some speculation that the spelling ''Virgilius'' might have arisen due to a pun, since ''virg-'' carries an echo of the Latin word for 'wand' (''uirga''), Virgil being particularly associated with magic in the [[Middle Ages]]. There is also a possibility that ''virg-'' is meant to evoke the Latin ''virgo'' ('virgin'); this would be a reference to the [[Eclogue 4|fourth ''Eclogue'']], which has a history of Christian, and specifically [[Messianism|Messianic]], [[Christian interpretations of Virgil's Eclogue 4|interpretations]].<ref group="lower-roman">For more discussion on the spelling of Virgil's name, see Flickinger, R. C. 1930. "Vergil or Virgil?." ''[[The Classical Journal]]'' 25(9):658–60.</ref>