<P> Further expansion of the word to include virtuous (or naïve) young women, irrespective of religious connection, occurred over about another century, until by about 1400 we find: </P> <P> Voide & vacand of vices as virgyns it ware . </P> <P> These are three of the eighteen definitions of virgin from the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED1, pages 230--232). Most of the OED1 definitions, however, are similar . </P> <P> The German word for "virgin" is Jungfrau . Jungfrau literally means "young woman", but is not used in this sense . Instead "junge Frau" can be used . The rather dated German word for a young (unmarried) woman, without implications regarding sexuality, is Fräulein . Fräulein was used in German as a title of respect, equivalent to current usage of Miss in English . Jungfrau is the word reserved specifically for sexual inexperience . As Frau means "woman", it suggests a female referent . Unlike English, German also has a specific word for a male virgin Jüngling ("Youngling"). It is, however, dated too and rarely used . Jungfrau, with some masculine modifier, is more typical, as evidenced by the film, The 40 - Year - Old Virgin, about a 40 - year - old male virgin, titled in German, "Jungfrau (40), männlich, sucht ...". Note that the term used for the starsign virgo also is Jungfrau (even it had a similar term used in Swedish was "Jungfrun" however, the Swedish title for the film used the English title instead), which makes the above movie title ambiguous . German also distinguishes between young women and girls, who are denoted by the word Mädchen . The English cognate "maid" was often used to imply virginity, especially in poetry - e.g. Maid Marian, the love interest of the legendary outlaw Robin Hood in English folklore . </P>

Where did the concept of virginity come from