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An article I found

Trackdayguy

Speed doesn't kill, it's hitting the wall
I read an interesting article last week suggesting that the meaning of the word virgin needs updating as does the word "having sex". Seems that you can still legally claim to be a virgin even if you've had anal or oral sex,
 

Saint Frankenstein

Wanderer From Afar
Premium Member
That article was dumb. Yes, in ancient Greek culture, "virgin" could mean an unmarried "independent" woman. For example, you have virgin goddesses like Athena, who is portrayed as not having a consort and basically being asexual. But it still also meant that she hasn't had sex. The two things weren't separate. So the author has to get over that she's not a virgin anymore after banging her way through town. It would make more sense for a feminist to argue for doing away with the concept of virginity all together.
 

Skwim

Veteran Member
On a serious side, I found the following interesting.

virgin (n.)

c. 1200, "unmarried or chaste woman noted for religious piety and having a position of reverence in the Church," from Anglo-French and Old French virgine "virgin; Virgin Mary," from Latin virginem (nominative virgo) "maiden, unwedded girl or woman," also an adjective, "fresh, unused," probably related to virga "young shoot," via a notion of "young" (compare Greek talis "a marriageable girl," cognate with Latin talea "rod, stick, bar").

Meaning "young woman in a state of inviolate chastity" is recorded from c. 1300. Also applied since early 14c. to a chaste man. Meaning "naive or inexperienced person" is attested from 1953. The adjective is recorded from 1550s in the literal sense; figurative sense of "pure, untainted" is attested from c. 1300. The Virgin Islands were named (in Spanish) by Columbus for St. Ursula and her 11,000 martyred virgin companions.
source

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Trackdayguy

Speed doesn't kill, it's hitting the wall
Words are always changing their meanings, the little devils. It's quite rude of them, IMHO.

Very true, I guess that's why it's so important for those of us who read the Bible to understand that we can't and must not use our modern understanding of words and then overlaw them on scritture. All we'll do is get a false picture of what the Bible is saying. Sadly the fundamentalist & literalists have fallen head first into this, I hear it all the time, "The Bible says" my response is "no it probably doesn't".
 
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