From Latin 'candela' (from 'candere,' to shine) — borrowed during the Christianization of the Anglo-Saxons.
A cylinder or block of wax or tallow with a central wick that is lit to produce light as it burns.
From Old English 'candel,' an early borrowing from Latin 'candēla' (a candle, light, torch), from the verb 'candēre' (to shine, to glow, to be white-hot), from the PIE root *kand- (to shine, to glow). The word was borrowed into Old English during the Christianization of the Anglo-Saxons, when Roman missionaries brought both candle-making technology and the Latin word for it. The same Latin root produced 'candid' (white, pure, honest), 'candidate' (one wearing a white toga), and 'incandescent.' Key
A 'candidate' is literally 'one dressed in white' — Roman office-seekers wore bleached white togas ('candidatus') to symbolize purity, from the same Latin 'candēre' (to glow white) that produced 'candle.' The SI unit of luminous intensity, the 'candela,' is also named directly from the Latin word.
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