In poetry this term was employed by Plautus, Pseudolus, Act IV, Sc. 7. The Greek αιδοιον sometimes meant vagina and sometimes the external sexual parts; κολπος was used for the vagina alone.
It is curious, however, that the European physicians of the seventeenth and even eighteenth centuries were doubtful of its value as a sign of virginity and considered it often absent.
For a summary of the beliefs and practices of various peoples with regard to the hymen and virginity see Ploss and Bartels, Das Weib, vol. i, Chapter XVI.