verge
意味
- 縁,へり,端
- (…に)接する,近づく《+on(upon)+名》
- (…に)傾く,向かう《+to(toward)+名》
例文
The Siberian tiger is on the verge of extinction.
シベリアトラは絶滅の危機に瀕している。
Some wild animals are on the verge of extinction.
いまにも絶滅しようとしている野生動物もいます。
The poor child was on the verge of starvation.
かわいそうにその子供は餓死寸前だった。
語源
ラテン語virga「棒・杖」から。役人の職権を示す杖その権限の及ぶ範囲範囲の境目「縁・へり」。
on the verge of 〜「今にも〜しそうで」はこの「縁」から。
英語の原文（Wiktionary）
Borrowed from Middle French verge (“rod or wand of office”), hence "scope, territory dominated", from Latin virga (“shoot, rod stick”), of unknown origin. Earliest attested sense in English is now-obsolete meaning "male member, penis" (c.1400). Modern sense is from the notion of 'within the verge' (1509, also as Anglo-Norman dedeinz la verge), i.e. "subject to the Lord High Steward's authority" (as symbolized by the rod of office), originally a 12-mile radius round the royal court, which sense shifted to "the outermost edge of an expanse or area." Doublet of virga.