Yes, this is what is usually said to have happened: Oxford
Dict. of Saints explains it as a misreading of XI MV
("undecim martyres virgines" "11 virgin martyrs") as
"undecim millia vigines" (11 000 virgins). It couldn't
have been easy to collect 11 000 virgins.
Sarah Salih
On Sun, 7 May 2000 10:05:52 -0400
[log in to unmask] wrote:
> >>>
> S. Avia, or Aveze, as she is called in France, according to the legend,
> was born in Sicily, at the beginning of the 3rd century . . . [She]
> accompanied S. ursula on that famous expedition with eleven thousand
> virgins, which ended in their martyrdom at Cologne (Oct. 31st) at the
> hands of the Huns. Only three of the eleven thousand were spared.
> <<<
>
> I once had a conversation with a linguist friend about this story, where he told
> me that the "eleven thousand virgins" are thought to have their source in a
> phrase originally written something like "XI m~ virginae" (apologies for my
> undoubtedly incorrect Latin) which should have been read as "eleven martyred
> virgins" ... has anyone else heard of this?
>
> Jonathan Gilbert
>
>
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