"Italian beggar," 1792, Italian, augmentative of lazzaro "a beggar, leper," from Lazarus (q.v.).
Entries linking to lazzarone
Lazarus
Biblical character (Luke xvi.20), the poor man covered in sores; his name was extended in medieval usage to "any poor and visibly diseased person" (compare lazar, mid-14c., "one deformed and nauseous with filthy and pestilential diseases" [Johnson]). The name is from a Greek rendition of Hebrew El'azar, literally "(he whom) God has helped."