'Pauper' means 'producing little' — Latin defined poverty as insufficient output, not insufficient possessions.
Lacking sufficient money to live at a standard considered comfortable; of a low or inferior standard or quality; deserving of pity.
From Old French "povre" (Modern French "pauvre"), from Latin "pauper" (poor, not wealthy), a compound of "pau-" (little, few) and "-per" (producing, bringing forth), thus literally "producing little." The first element derives from PIE *peh₂u- (few, small), which also gave Latin "paucus" (few, whence English "paucity"), Greek "paûros" (small, slight), and Gothic "fawai" (few, whence English "few"). The second element comes from PIE *perh₂- (to bring forth, produce), also the source of Latin "parere" (to give birth, produce, whence "parent"). The compound thus originally described someone whose land
Latin 'pauper' is a compound literally meaning 'producing little' — from 'paucus' (few) and 'parāre' (to produce). The same root 'paucus' also gave English 'few,' 'paucity,' and even 'fawn' (a young deer, from the idea of smallness). English 'poor' replaced the native Old English words for poverty after the Norman Conquest — even the language of poverty was conquered.