1550s, from Latin urgere "to press hard, push forward, force, drive, compel, stimulate," from PIE root *wreg- "to push, shove, drive" (cognates: Lithuanian verziu "tie, fasten, squeeze," vargas "need, distress," vergas "slave;" Old Church Slavonic vragu "enemy;" Gothic wrikan "persecute," Old English wrecan "drive, hunt, pursue"). Related: Urged; urging.

1610s, "act of urging," from urge, v.. Marked as "rare" in Century Dictionary (1902); "in frequent use from c.1910" [OED].