mesquino
Old Spanish
Alternative forms
- misquino (pre-literary)
- mezquino, meçquino
Etymology
From Arabic مِسْكِين (miskīn, “poor”). First attested with the pre-literary spelling misquinos (plural) in the 10th/11th-century San Millan glosses.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /mesˈkino/
Adjective
mesquino
- poor (lacking money)
Noun
mesquino m
- beggar, homeless person
- 10th or 11th century, anonymous, San Millan glosses , (as quoted by Coromines and Pascual):
- qui... pauperibus reddet : qui dat a los misquinos
- ...who gives to the beggars...
- qui... pauperibus reddet : qui dat a los misquinos
Descendants
- Spanish: mezquino
Further reading
- Joan Coromines; José A. Pascual (1985), “mezquino”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico (in Spanish), volume IV (Me–Re), Madrid: Gredos, →ISBN, pages 62-63