Modern political candidates wear suits and rosettes. Their Roman counterparts wore something simpler and more striking: a freshly bleached white toga. The Latin candidatus meant "clothed in white," from candidus ("dazzling, shining white"), itself from candēre ("to shine, to be brilliant").
A Toga Whitened with Chalk
To stand for public office in the Roman Republic, a man would dress in a toga candida — a toga rubbed with chalk to make it look unnaturally bright. The colour was meant to suggest moral purity and visibility in a crowd. Anyone moving through the Forum in dazzling white during the run-up to an election was, by definition, a candidate.
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A Family of Bright Words
The same root candēre seeded several other English words, all of them carrying a suggestion of light or brightness:
- Candle — a thing that shines.
- Candid — originally "white," then "pure," then "honest" or "frank." Photographers borrowed it for their unposed shots.
- Incandescent — glowing white-hot, the literal heir of the Latin meaning.
- Incendiary — a near-cousin, from a related Latin root for "to set on fire."
From Toga to Job Application
By the 17th century, English had borrowed "candidate" through Latin scholarly use, and it had loosened to mean any person standing for any position — political, academic, or professional. The white toga was long gone, but the word kept its original sense of presenting oneself for public consideration. A modern job candidate, going into an interview in their best clothes, is doing exactly what candidatus originally meant.