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mendico

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word mendico

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Italic *m(e)ndo-/ā-
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin mendum
Latin mendicus
Latin mendico
From the same root
Latin menda ← mendum
Latin mendosus ← mendum
Latin mendicitas ← mendicus

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [mɛnˈdiː.koː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [menˈdiː.ko][1]

Forms

mendīcō (present infinitive mendīcāre, perfect active mendīcāvī, supine mendīcātum); first conjugation[1] There is also a deponent mendīcor, with the old infinitive mendīcārier in Plautus.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin mendīcus (“beggarly; a beggar”) + -ō.[2][4][1] The OLD derives mendīcus from mendum (“fault, defect”), and Wiktionary from its variant menda.[2][1] De Vaan traces mendum to Proto-Italic *m(e)ndo-/ā-, perhaps cognate with Old Irish mind (“sign”); a derivation from Proto-Indo-European *mn- (“to think”) he calls only a theoretical possibility.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has both uses: in the Bacchides it is to go begging, and in the Amphitruo to beg for something, there for trouble.[2] He also has a deponent infinitive ⟨mendīcārier⟩ in the prologue of the Captīvī.[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short call it poetic and post-classical: it is to live by begging, and with an object to ask for something as a beggar.[3] A deponent mendīcor is found in Plautus.[2][4] Stelten gives “beg” for Church Latin, with both forms.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of begging and of begging for something.[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (intransitive) To go begging, be a beggar.[2][3][1][6]
  2. (transitive) To beg for.[2][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Mendico.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/mendico. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·