μαλακός

Forms

μᾰλᾰκός (malakós) m (feminine μᾰλᾰκή, neuter μᾰλᾰκόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *məlakos, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *ml̥h₂ekos, from *melh₂- (“soft, weak”).^[1] Beekes takes it as a primary derivative in -k- whose nearest relative is βλάξ (blā́x, “slack, stupid”): the two forms point to a split paradigm, *mlh₂-k- giving βλάξ (blā́x) and *mlh₂-ek- giving μαλακός.^[2][3] The old comparison with the verb for “to grind” in μύλη (múlē) he considers outdated.^[2] Frisk still took the grinding verb as the base, and Wiktionary notes that the separation is disputed.^[2][4][1]

Chantraine adds ἀμαλός (amalós, “weak, tender”) and ἀμαλδύνω (amaldúnō), forms without the -k-, and more distantly Latin mollis (“soft”) and Sanskrit मृदु (mṛdú, “soft”).^[3][5] Wiktionary also compares Old Irish malcad (“rottenness”) and Proto-Germanic *malskaz (“soft; haughty”).^[1] See also μαλθακός (malthakós).^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

From Homer on it is used of things soft to the touch: beds and fleeces, garments, soft meadows and fresh-ploughed fallow land.^[6][7][8] Homer already uses it of things not touched: gentle sleep and death, and soft, winning words.^[6][3]

Semantic evolution

In poetry the word is mostly favourable: a soft glance, a gentle person.^[3] Of people it could also mean soft in a bad sense, weak, cowardly or effeminate, and Plato and Aristotle use it of slackness of character.^[3][6][2] Aristotle's zoology names the soft-bodied animals, the cephalopods, τὰ μαλάκια (malákia), and the crustaceans μαλακόστρακα (malakóstraka), “soft-shelled”.^[2][3] Many technical compounds begin with μαλακο-.^[3]

In the New Testament it is used of the fine clothes of those who live in palaces, and, in Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, of a man who takes the passive part in a same-sex relationship.^[9] Latin borrowed it as malacus (“soft, effeminate”).^[10] The word has been in use through the whole history of Greek, and Modern Greek μαλακός (malakós) is the ordinary Modern Greek word for “soft”, opposed to “hard”.^[3][11][12]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it of bedding and garments, and of soft words and sleep.^[6][8]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses the neuter as a noun for softness as an abstract quality.^[7][13]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle names the cephalopods and crustaceans after their soft bodies or shells.^[2][3][13]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it of soft clothes and of an effeminate man.^[9]
• Modern Greek – Modern Greek μαλακός (malakós) still means “soft”.^[12][11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Soft to the touch, yielding to pressure: of bedding, garments, wool, grass, soil.^[6][7]
2. Of the body, soft, tender; of sheep, soft-fleeced.^[6][7]
3. Gentle, mild: of sleep, death, words, breezes.^[6]
4. (of character) Soft, weak, effeminate, cowardly.^[6][2][3]
5. (New Testament) Passive in a same-sex relationship.^[9]
6. (neuter as a noun) Softness.^[7]

Word family

• μάλαγμα (málagma)
• μαλακία (malakíā)
• μαλακότης (malakótēs)
• μαλακῶς (malakôs)
• μαλάσσω (malássō)
• μαλακόστρακος (malakóstrakos)
• μαλάκιον (malákion)
• μαλακύνω (malakúnō)

Related words

• βλάξ (blā́x)
• μαλθακός (malthakós)
• ἀμαλός (amalós)
• Latin malacus
• Latin mollis

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
4. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
9. ^ a b c Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
10. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
11. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
12. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
13. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge