Etymograph

English

Virginia

Virginia comes from Latin Virginia.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEVirginia
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1622same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEVirginia
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1622same form

Earliest quotation: 1622, 1620, Mayflower Compact: “We, whose names are underwritten, the loyall Subjects of…”

Formed from virgin + -ia

Latin virgō ‘maiden; unmarried young woman’

Old French virgine

Middle English virgine

English virgin

The story

The state/colony was named for Elizabeth I as the Virgin Queen, equivalent to virgin + -ia.

Every English word from Latin Virginia

Today it means

name A state of the United States. Official name: Commonwealth of Virginia. Capital: Richmond.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Latin Virginia / Virginia

Shirt and support for this word