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BEGGAR

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 652 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BEGGAR , one who begs, particularly one who gains his living by asking the charitable contributions of others. The word, with the verbal forrn " to beg," in See also:

Middle See also:English beggen, is of obscure See also:history. The words appear first in English in the 13th See also:century, and were See also:early connected with " bag," with reference to the receptacle for See also:alms carried by the beggars. The most probable derivation of the word, and that now generally accepted, is that it is a corruption of the name of the See also:lay communities known as See also:Beguines and Beghards, which, shortly after their See also:establishment, followed the friars in the practice of See also:mendicancy (see BEGUINES). It has been suggested, however, that the origin of " beg " and " beggars " is to be found in a rare Old English word, bedecian, of the same meaning, which is apparently connected with the See also:Gothic bidjan, cf. See also:German betteln; but between the occurrence of bedecian at the end of the 9th century and the See also:appearance of " beggar " and " beg " in the 13th, there is a See also:blank, and no explanation can be given of the See also:great See also:change in See also:form. For the English See also:law See also:relating to begging and its history, see CHARITY, POOR LAw and See also:VAGRANCY. BEGGAR-MY-See also:NEIGHBOUR, a See also:simple card-See also:game. An See also:ordinary See also:pack is divided equally between two .players, and the See also:cards are held with the backs upwards. The first player See also:lays down his See also:top card See also:face up, and the opponent plays his top card on it, and this goes on alternately as See also:long as no See also:court-card appears; but if either player turns up a court-card, his opponent has to See also:play four ordinary cards to an See also:ace, three to a See also:king, two to a See also:queen, one to a See also:knave, and when he has done so the other player takes all the cards on the table and places them under his pack; if, however, in the course of this playing to a court-card, another court-card turns up, the adversary has in turn to play to this, and as long as neither has played a full number of ordinary cards to any court-card the See also:trick continues. The player who gets all the cards into his See also:hand is the winner.

End of Article: BEGGAR

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