Etymology Dictionary

TARGET,  a small shield, buckler, a mark to fire at.  (E.; with F. suffix.)   The mark to fire at is named from its resemblance to a round shield.   It is remarkable that the g is hard; indeed, the pl. is spelt targattes in Ascham, Toxophilus, bk. i. ed. Arber, p. 69, l. 28; and we find tergat in Sir T. Elyot, The Governour, bk. i. c. 18, § 2.   This may be accounted for by considering the word as mainly of E. origin; though we also had targe as a F. word as early as in Rob. of Glouc., p. 361; and see Chaucer, C. T. 473.   The dimin. suffix -et is the usual F. dimin. so common in E.—A.S. targe, a targe, shield, pl. targan, in a will dated 970; Thorpe, Diplomatarium, p. 516. + Icel. targa (perhaps a foreign word), a target, small round shield. + O.H.G. zarga, a frame, side of a vessel, wall; G. zarge, a frame, case, side, border.   β. We find also F. targe, 'a kind of target or shield,' Cot.; Port. tarja, an escutcheon on a target, a border; Span. tarja, a shield; Ital. targa, a buckler; words which Diez explains to be of Teut. origin.   γ. Again, the G. tartsche and O. Du. tartsche (Hexham), are borrowed back from F. targe.   And we even find Irish and Gael. targaid, a target, shield, which must have been taken from M.E. targat; cf. Rhys, Lect. ii.   δ. Fick gives the Teut. type as TARGA, enclosure, border, hence rim, shield; iii. 119.   He compares the Lithuan. darżas, a garden, enclosure, border or halo round the moon; and supposes the Teut. base to be TARG, to hold fast, corresponding to Skt. darh, to hold fast; i. 619.   ¶ Among the words of Teut. origin Diez includes the Port. and Span. adarga; the Port. adarga is a short square target, and the Span. adarga is explained by Minsheu to be 'a short and light target or buckler, which the Africans and Spaniards doe vse.'   But this word is plainly Moorish, the a being for al, the Arab. article, and the etymology is from Arab. darkat, darakat, 'a shield or buckler of solid leather;' Rich. Dict., p. 664.   It is remarkable that Cotgrave explains F. targe as 'a kind of target or shield, almost square, and much in use along the Spanish coast, lying over against Africk, from whence it seems the fashion of it came.'   He is, of course, thinking only of the Moorish square shield; but the O.F. targe occurs as early as the 11th cent., and the A.S. targe can hardly be of Moorish origin.   Still, the resemblance is remarkable.