moine

le moine (FR N-M) monk, religious man who lives separated from the worldly life, whether alone (anchorite, hermit) or in a community of other monks, after taking the particular vows of an order. In the early days, monks were regarded as »fous de Dieu« (God-crazies), and there were many varieties of self-mortification: gyrovagues (wanderers), stylites (pole-sitters), dendrites (tree-dwellers), hypètres (living outdoors), kelliotes (inhabiting a tiny cell), or brouteurs (nourished only by weeds…