late 16th cent.: from French, from Latin pagina, from pangere 'fasten'Middle English (in the sense 'youth, male of uncouth manners'): from Old French, perhaps from Italian paggio, from Greek paidion, diminutive of pais, paid- 'boy'. Early use of the verb (mid 16th cent.) was in the sense 'follow as or like a page'; its current sense dates from the early 20th cent