maldad

Forms

maldad f (plural maldades)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish maldat, inherited from Late Latin malitās (“badness”), a derivative of Latin malus (“bad”).^[2][1][3] Classical Latin said malitia for “wickedness”; the rare Latin noun is found in old glosses and in the Digest, and DICCA-XV and the DCVB give it as Vulgar Latin.^[3][4][5][6] The DCECH treats it as a derivative of malo shared by the three Ibero-Romance languages, and Wiktionary notes that it is equivalent to mal with the suffix -dad.^[7][1]

The same word is Portuguese maldade, Galician maldade, Asturian maldá and Catalan maldat.^[7][6][8][1] The classical word gave Old Spanish maleza (“wickedness”) and the learned malicia.^[7][9] For the Latin adjective de Vaan reports Proto-Indo-European *mol-o- (“bad”), compared with Oscan mallom, Old Irish mell (“destruction”) and Ancient Greek μέλεος (méleos, “idle, unhappy”), but he considers this uncertain.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first record is in the Vida de Santa María Egipcíaca (c. 1215, known from a 14th-century copy), where Mary laments: Tan só plena de malveztat, de luxuria e de maldat “I am so full of wickedness, of lust and of evil”.^[11] DEMel lists a maldade in Leonese fueros of about 1192.^[12] The DCECH's first record is Berceo, dated 1220–1250 by the BDELC.^[7][9]

Semantic evolution

In Alfonso X's prose maldat is the quality of being bad (the Lapidario speaks of the badness of earth and air), a bad deed, and once an illness: the General Estoria puts fever among the maldades.^[13] Nebrija gives Latin malignitas and improbitas.^[14] Covarrubias defines it as a wicked deed.^[15] The Diccionario de Autoridades has the two senses that the DLE still gives, the quality of what is bad and a foul or sinful act.^[16][2] Salvá in 1846 also records an obsolete sense “defect, flaw”.^[17]

Moliner notes that a maldad can now be a mischievous remark offered in a friendly tone.^[18] Across Latin America the colloquial sense is a prank or piece of mischief, and in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Uruguay a practical joke.^[19][20][21] The derivative maldadoso, in Nebrija, is now a vulgar word in Chile.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1192 – maldade in Leonese fueros, according to DEMel.^[12]
• c. 1215 – maldat in the Vida de Santa María Egipcíaca.^[11]
• 1220–1250 – Berceo uses it; the DCECH's first record.^[7][9]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it for the badness of earth and air.^[13]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija glosses it malignitas, improbitas.^[14]
• 1562 – first record in the Americas, in Yucatán.^[22]
• 1734 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines its two senses.^[16]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary derives it from Latin malitas.^[23]

Meanings

Noun

1. Badness, wickedness: Nunca vi tanta maldad en una persona.^[2][1]
2. A wicked or unjust act: Aquel hombre cometió muchas maldades.^[2][18]
3. (Latin America, colloquial) A prank, piece of mischief.^[19][20]
4. (Cuba, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Uruguay) A practical joke.^[19]

Related words

• mal
• malo
• malicia
• maleza
• Latin malus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. maldad
3. ^ a b Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. maldad
4. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre, p. s.v. malitas
5. ^ Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. maldad
6. ^ a b Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. maldat
7. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 784
8. ^ Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2000), Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana, Uviéu: ALLA; online at https://mas.academiadelallingua.com/diccionariu, p. s.v. maldá
9. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. malo
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. malus
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. maldad
12. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. maldad
13. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. maldad
14. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 375
15. ^ Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1104
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 462
17. ^ Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 682
18. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. maldad
19. ^ a b c Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. maldad
20. ^ a b Academia Dominicana de la Lengua; Instituto Guzmán Ariza de Lexicografía (2024), Diccionario del español dominicano, 2nd ed., online at https://ded.igalex.org, p. s.v. maldad
21. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1959), Diccionario de mejicanismos, México: Porrúa, p. 683
22. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. maldad
23. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 665