mendicitas Latin · revision 33357

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=itc-pro *m(e)ndo-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [mɛnˈdiː.kɪ.taːs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [menˈdiː.t͡ʃi.tas]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''mendīcitās''' ''f'' (genitive mendīcitātis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|mendīcus|-tās|t1=beggarly; beggar]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) The OLD derives [[m|la|mendīcus]] from [[m|la|mendum|t=fault, blemish]],^(OLD 2012) which de Vaan traces to [[itc-pro|*m(e)ndo-]]; if [[sga|mind|t=sign, mark]] is cognate, the word is shared by Italic and Celtic.^(de Vaan 2008) Cognate with [[sga|mennar|t=blemish]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and the TLL record it from Plautus,^(de Vaan 2008)^(TLL) who in the ''Menaechmi'' speaks of people who hurry to thrust themselves into beggary: ''ad mendicitatem se properent detrudere''.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is the condition of a beggar, destitution:^(OLD 2012) Cicero contrasts men who owned vast wealth with one in utter beggary, and speaks of “poverty, or rather want and beggary”.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Seneca and Apuleius use it too.^(OLD 2012) In the declamations ascribed to Quintilian it is the act of begging.^(OLD 2012) The TLL finds the plural from Tertullian.^(TLL) In Church Latin it is want, poverty.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of beggary.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero, of utter destitution.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian has the plural.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The condition of a [[m|en|beggar]], [[m|en|beggary]], destitution.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The act of [[m|en|begging]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(Ecclesiastical Latin)'' Want, [[m|en|poverty]].^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[mendīcus]]

+ * [[mendīcō]]

+ * [[mendum]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Döderlein ranks it as the extreme among the words for poverty: ''paupertās'' is narrow means, ''inopia'' and ''egestās'' are want that is felt, and ''mendīcitās'' is absolute poverty that forces one to beg.^(Döderlein 1874) The ''pauper'' has little, the ''inops'' too little, and the ''mendīcus'' nothing at all.^(Döderlein 1874)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}