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Origin and history of alms

alms(n.)

"charitable relief of the poor," especially as a religious duty, also "that which is given to relieve the poor or needy," Old English ælmesse "almsgiving, act of relieving the needy," from Proto-Germanic *alemosna (source also of Old Saxon alamosna, Old High German alamuosan, Old Norse ölmusa), an early borrowing of Vulgar Latin *alemosyna (source of Old Spanish almosna, Old French almosne, Italian limosina).

This was a variant of Church Latin eleemosyna (Tertullian, 3c.), from Greek eleēmosynē "pity, mercy," in Ecclesiastical Greek "charity, alms," from eleēmōn "compassionate," from eleos "pity, mercy," which is of unknown origin (Beekes gives it no etymology) and perhaps imitates cries of pleading. The spelling perversion in Vulgar Latin is perhaps by influence of alimonia (see alimony).

Entries linking to alms

alimony(n.)

1650s, "nourishment," also "allowance to a wife from a husband's estate, or in certain cases of separation," from Latin alimonia "food, support, nourishment, sustenance," from alere "to nourish, rear, support, maintain" (from PIE root *al- (2) "to grow, nourish") + -monia suffix signifying action, state, condition (cognate with Greek -men). Derived form palimony was coined 1979, from pal (n.). Related: Alimonious.

almoner(n.)

"official distributor of alms on behalf of another," c. 1300 (mid-13c. as a surname), from Old French almosnier "alms-giver" (12c.; Modern French aumônier), from Vulgar Latin *almosinarius, from Late Latin elemosinarius (adj.) "connected with alms," from eleemosyna "alms" (see alms). OED notes, "the Renascence brought up a number of artificial spellings," and Middle English Compendium lists aumener, aum(s)ner, a(u)moner, aumerer, aumbrer, amener, ambner, aumoiner, almoiner, almer, and halner.

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Trends of alms

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

More to explore

Crispin
hagiographers make the brothers noble Romans who, while they preached in Gaul, worked as shoemakers to avoid living on the alms...
Abraham
was an old term for mendicant lunatics, or, more commonly, frauds who wandered England shamming madness so as to collect alms...
relieve
alleviate (pain, etc.) wholly or partly, mitigate; afford comfort; allow respite; diminish the pressure of," also "give alms...
maunder
frequentative of maund "to beg" (1560s), which is possibly from French mendier "to beg," from Latin mendicare "to beg, ask alms...
trunk
mid-15c., "box, case," from Old French tronc "alms box in a church," also "trunk of a tree, trunk of the human body, wooden...
charity
," also "Christian love in its highest manifestation," from Old French charité "(Christian) charity, mercy, compassion; alms...Also from c. 1300 as "an act of kindness or philanthropy," also "alms, that which is bestowed gratuitously on a person or...
beggar
"one who asks alms," especially as a way of life, c. 1200, from Old French begart, "a member of the Beghards," a mendicant...
donation
"act of giving or bestowing; that which is gratuitously given, a grant or gift," mid-15c., donacioun, from Old French donacion (13c.) and directly from Latin donationem (nominative donatio) "a presenting, giving," noun of action from past-participle stem of donare "give as a gift
contribution
late 14c., contribucioun, "a levy imposed by a body politic upon a district or population" (for example to pay for military defense in a border region), from Old French contribution "payment" and directly from Late Latin contributionem (nominative contributio) "a dividing, a dist
Munchkin
1900, coined by U.S. author L. Frank Baum (1856-1919) in "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." He never explained how he got the word. The word most like it is perhaps mutchkin, an old Scottish measure of capacity for liquids, which was used by Scott. (It comes from Middle Dutch mutseken

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Dictionary entries near alms
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