Originally the Dutch word was a colloquial name for a group of the harmless buriers of the dead during the Black Death, in the 14th century, known as Alexians, Alexian Brothers or Cellites. These were known colloquially as ' (Middle Dutch for "mumbling brothers"), or ', from ("to sing softly"), from their chants for the dead. Middle English ' (akin to the verb ', "lull", the English cognate of Dutch "lollen" "to mutter, mumble") is recorded as an alternative spelling of "Lollard", while its generic meaning "a lazy vagabond, an idler, a fraudulent beggar" is not recorded before 1582.