Meaning of virga | Babel Free

Definitions

1. twig, young shoot
   declension-1, feminine
2. rod, switch for flogging.
   declension-1, feminine
3. staff, walking stick
   declension-1, feminine
4. wand (magical)
   declension-1, feminine
5. penis
   Late-Latin, Medieval-Latin, declension-1, feminine, figuratively
6. a unit of measurement, a rod; of either 3 feet in length, or 16½ feet, also known as a pole or perch; a square of land of the same length and breadth
   Medieval-Latin, declension-1, feminine

Equivalents

Examples

“flagellum equō et cāmus asinō et virgā dorsō inprūdentium”

A whip for a horse, and a snaffle for an ass, and a rod for the back of fools. (trans.: Douay-Rheims Bible)

“8 AD . Fasti, Publius Ovidius Naso, Liber II, 703-704. Illic Tarquinius mandata latentia nati Accipit, et virga lilia summa metit. There Tarquinius is receiving secret mandates of the son And is knocking down with staff the tops of lilies.”

“Tum virgam capit: Hāc animās ille ēvocat Orcō”

Then [Mercury] takes up his wand: With this he calls pale souls from Orcus, or sends others down to sorrowful Tartarus, …. (Specifically, the caduceus that Mercury uses in his role as psychopompus.)

“sunt etiam singularia in medio constituta ne in unam partem praeiudicialiter vergentia alteram competenti decore nudarent: nasus, os, guttur, pectus, umbilicus, et genitalium virga descendens, quae laudabilia et honora monstrantur quando in medio locata consistunt.”

These [body parts] are one by one placed in the middle, because if they converged to the same place, one would deprive the honour of another part. The nose, mouth, throat, chest, navel, and the rod of the genitals show their merit and excellence by being placed in the middle.

CEFR level