Thyggynge

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Asking others humbly for money, food, or charity, as a poor person would in medieval English
2. The act of requesting alms or gifts from people out of need, a practice known in older English
3. Pleading for charity by soliciting money or goods from passersby in the manner of a beggar

Etymology: Begging was once just a kind of receiving. The Old English verb "þicgan" meant "to receive" or "to take," and it could also mean to take a meal, as in partaking of food. From that general sense of taking what is given came the narrower idea of asking others for what they would give. The verb survived mostly in Scots and northern English dialect as "thig." The noun is the verbal form of that verb, with the "-ing" ending added to name the act of going around asking for alms. Its relatives in other Germanic languages keep the older sense: Old Norse "þiggja" and Gothic "þiggan" both mean "to receive" or "to accept."