# 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: /tɑːd͡ʒ/
** Audio (Southern England):(file)
* (US) IPA: /tɑɹd͡ʒ/
* Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)dʒ

### Noun

targe (plural targes)
* (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.
* (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: /ˈtɑr.ʒə/
* Hyphenation: tar‧ge

### Noun

targe f (plural targes)
* (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: /taʁʒ/
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

targe f (plural targes)
* targe, buckler
** 1832, Victor Hugo, Notre-Dame-de-Paris, sourced from :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: /ˈtard͡ʒ(ə)/

### Noun

targe (plural targes)
* 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)
* targe

## Old English
### Noun

targe f
* Alternative form of targa