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Avirge orverge (from Latin virga) is a type of rod, made ofwood.
Originally it was one or more branches (the French often useverges, the plural of its equivalent, as the normal word for a rod, the rarer singularverge rather indicates aswitch) used as an instrument forcorporal punishment, or as ariding crop. It later became a symbol of civil office, used in ceremonies of swearingfealty (from which the legal termtenant by the verge is derived). Further deriving from this use is the sense of a measurement, and so boundary or border, of land, or generally a margin of space.[1]
In modern times it is best known as averger's wand, the ceremonial staff of the Anglican and Episcopal lay church officers known asvergers (or originallyvirger – the title derives fromvirge), who originally used it as a "weapon" to make way for the ecclesiastical procession (compare the CatholicSwiss Guard), and occasionally to chastise unrulychoristers.
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Verge".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 27 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 1021.