核心畫面

One way to hold Virgo: a faint pattern of stars that people long ago looked at and saw a young woman holding wheat. The pattern gets her name. The name is then lent to the stretch of the year when the sun passes that part of the sky. And finally it is lent to the people born in that stretch. Each step moves a little further from the stars and a little closer to a person.

可以想成天上的一群星星。很久以前的人看著它,覺得像一位手拿麥穗的年輕女子,就把這個名字給了它。這個名字後來被借去指太更多收起可以想成天上的一群星星。很久以前的人看著它,覺得像一位手拿麥穗的年輕女子,就把這個名字給了它。這個名字後來被借去指太陽經過那片天空的那幾個星期。最後又被借去指在那幾個星期出生的人。整條線可以想成:星星 → 日子 → 人,一步一步離星空越遠,離人越近。三個意思用的是同一個字,差別在句子裡它指的是哪一層。

From the word’s history

From Latin virgō 'maiden, virgin', itself a calque of Ancient Greek parthénos, and a doublet of English virgin. The maiden in the name is the figure the star pattern was drawn as.

拉丁文 virgō 是「少女、處女」,和英文 virgin 是同源的雙生字;這個名字又是照希臘文 parthénos(少女)翻過去的。所以「少女」不是比喻,而是這片星空本來被畫成的樣子。

Wiktionary etymology_text supplied in evidence packet (source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:951986215:51401)

One branch

占星借走的名字:一段日子,和那段日子出生的人

太陽一年會走過這些星群,占星就把天上的名字切成日曆上的十二段;名字還是同一個,指的東西卻從星空換成時間,再換成人。

noun · B1

The sixth sign of the zodiac, drawn as a young woman. In astrology it covers people born between about 24 August and 23 September, and it is said to shape their character and their life.

處女座