mendicus

Mendicus is a Latin noun meaning beggar or pauper. It derives from the verb mendicare, to beg, and has given rise to English terms such as mendicant and mendicity. In classical and late antique Latin the word denotes a person who relies on alms.

In Latin usage, mendicus appears in discussions of poverty, charity, and almsgiving, often within moral, legal, or religious contexts. The concept of begging as a social reality is central to certain theological and social texts of the period, where begging was sometimes regulated or normative for certain groups.

In the medieval period, mendicare produced the present participle mendicans, from which the descriptor mendicant enters English. Mendicant orders, such as the Franciscans and Dominicans, were religious communities that professed poverty and subsisted by begging for alms. The term mendicant thus links the Latin vocabulary for beggar to a broader historical category describing these evangelical religious movements.

Today, mendicus is primarily of historical, philological, or linguistic interest. It appears in discussions of Latin etymology and in studies of related Romance-language words. Cognates survive in several Romance languages, reflecting the same root for beggary and the practice of begging.