targe

English

Etymology

From Middle English targe, either:

• from Old French targe, from Frankish *targā (“buckler”);

or

• from Old English targa (masculine) and targe (feminine);

both ultimately from Old Norse targa (“round shield”) from Proto-Germanic *targǭ (“edge”), from Proto-Indo-European *derǵʰ- (“fenced lot”). Akin to Old High German zarga (“side wall, rim”) (German Zarge (“border, frame”)). However, the soft -g- seems to indicate a French origin.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /tɑːd͡ʒ/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /tɑɹd͡ʒ/
• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)dʒ

Noun

targe (plural targes)

1. (archaic) A small shield.
   • 1730, Andrew Brice, Freedom: A Poem, Written in Time of Recess from the Rapacious Claws of Bailiffs, and Devouring Fangs of Goalers, […], Exon [Exeter, Devon]: […] [T]he author, […], →OCLC, page 80:

     Or burley Hero [Ajax the Great] Sev'nfold Targe who bore, / With Choler furibund, vindictive Steel / Plunging in Brutal Gore; [...]

   • 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, chapter X, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 242:

     The Jester wore his usual fantastic habit, but late accidents had led him to adopt a good cutting falchion, instead of his wooden sword, with a targe to match it; [...]

   • 1880, Richard Francis Burton, Os Lusíadas, volume I, page 33:

     But now the Moormen, stalking o'er the strand / to guard the wat'ery stores the strangers need; / this, targe on arm and assegai in hand, / that, with his bended bow, and venom'd reed[.]

   • 2004, S[tephen] M[ichael] Stirling, Dies the Fire, New York, N.Y.: Roc Books, →ISBN, page 444:

     The Bearkillers’ swordmistress danced. Her targe beat aside a spearhead, and then the backsword flicked out in a blurring thrust.

2. (archaic) A pendant or tassel.

   Synonym: target

Derived terms

• target

Anagrams

• 'Gater, Gater, Greta, ergat-, grate, great, great-, retag, terga

Dutch

Alternative forms

• targie (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle Dutch targe. Spelling variants indicate that the Middle Dutch word derived from or was influenced by Old or Middle French.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɑr.ʒə/
• Hyphenation: tar‧ge

Noun

targe f (plural targes)

1. (historical, dated) a targe (concave, round or variously shaped shield)

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French targe (“round shield, targe”) from Old French targe (“buckler”), from Frankish *targa (“buckler”), probably from Old Norse targa (“small round shield”) (whence also Old English targe, targa (“shield”)) from Proto-Germanic *targǭ (“edge”), from Proto-Indo-European *derǵʰ- (“fenced lot”). Akin to Old High German zarga (“side wall, rim”) (German Zarge (“frame”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /taʁʒ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

targe f (plural targes)

1. targe, buckler
   • 1832, Victor Hugo, Notre-Dame-de-Paris, sourced from [1]:

     Vrai Dieu ! grommela Phoebus, des targes, des grands-blancs, des petits-blancs, des mailles d’un tournois les deux, des deniers parisis, de vrais liards-à-l’aigle ! C’est éblouissant !

     "True God!" muttered Phoebus, "targes, big−blanks, little blanks, mailles,* every two worth one of Tournay, farthings of Paris, real eagle liards! 'Tis dazzling!"

Descendants

• → Catalan: tarja
• → Portuguese: tarja
• → Spanish: tarja

Further reading

• “targe”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• gâter, gérât

Middle English

Alternative forms

• tarche, targge

Etymology

• From Old English targa, from Proto-Germanic *targǭ.
• From Old French targe, from Frankish *targa (“buckler”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtard͡ʒ(ə)/

Noun

targe (plural targes)

1. targe

Descendants

• English: targe
• Scots: targ, targe, tairge
• Yola: torches (plural)

References

• “tarǧe, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Middle French

Noun

targe f (plural targes)

1. targe

Old English

Noun

targe f

1. Alternative form of targa