Etymologically
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candidatus

Etymology and origin of the Latin word candidatus

History
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin candidatus
English candidate

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [kan.dɪˈdaː.tʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [kan.diˈdaː.tus][1]

Forms

candidātus m (genitive candidātī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is the adjective candidātus (“dressed in white”), formed from candidus “white” with the suffix -ātus, used as a noun.[2][1] Candidates for office wore a toga whitened, probably with chalk.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

As an adjective “dressed in white” it is found in Plautus,[4][5] and as a noun for a candidate in Varro and Cicero.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

As a noun it meant a candidate for an office, as in candidatus consularis or praetorius, and Cicero calls candidates officiosissima natio “the most obliging tribe” for their courting of voters.[2][6] It also meant a candidate for a rank, and figuratively anyone striving after something, as Pliny the Younger calls Trajan a candidate “not only for the consulship but for immortality”.[2]

Christian writers used candidati for the newly baptized, dressed in white, and for martyrs.[5] In medieval Latin it meant a member of the papal guard.[7] A fourth-declension noun candidātus “candidacy” appears in the Theodosian Code.[5][8] English borrowed it as English candidate around 1600.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it as an adjective, “dressed in white”.[2][4]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro mentions a candidate elected aedile.[2][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it often for candidates.[2][4]
  • c. 100 AD – Pliny the Younger calls Trajan a candidate for immortality.[2]
  • 438 AD – The Theodosian Code uses candidatus for candidacy.[4]
  • c. 1600 – English borrows it as English candidate.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A candidate for office.[2][6]
  2. (figurative) One who strives after something.[2]
  3. (Christian Latin) A newly baptized person; a martyr.[5]
  4. (Medieval Latin) A member of the papal guard.[7]

Adjective

  1. Dressed in white.[2][6]

Word family

  • candidāta

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.

Borrowed into

Cite this entry

“Candidatus.” Etymologically, 10 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/candidatus. Accessed 10 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on .