Etymologically
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malato

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Pronunciation

Forms

malato (feminine malata, masculine plural malati, feminine plural malate)[1] Old forms include Old Italian malatto, Old Italian malado, Old Italian malada and Old Italian maroto in Genoa.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin male habitus (“in a bad state”), a phrase of male (“badly”) and habitus, the past participle of habeō (“to have; to hold oneself”).[5][6][7][8] The phrase is found in an anecdote of Masurius Sabinus told by Aulus Gellius, in which a horse male habitum is set against a rider in fine condition; the sense “being in good or bad shape” was helped along by Ancient Greek κακῶς ἔχων (kakôs ékhōn, “being in a bad way”), of which the Latin is a calque.[5][7][9] J. Cornu first proposed this source in 1874, and it is now generally accepted.[5]

The phrase regularly gave Old Italian malatto, which took its present form on the model of the past participles in -ato.[3][10] Devoto and Devoto–Oli see a crossing with a verb malare (“to fall ill”) (compare ammalare), of which the adjective would be the participle, and the TLIO derives it from ammalato, mixed with malatto, and thinks the Genoese maroto was taken from Old Occitan malaut.[11][9][2] Körting too took it for the participle of “malare”.[4]

The same phrase gave French malade, Occitan malaute and Catalan malalt.[6][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record DELI gives is in Mazzeo di Ricco, before 1250: L’omo ch’è malato, / poi che torna in sanare, “the man who is ill, once he gets well again”, forgets the pain he went through.[5][12] The sense is “ill, suffering from a disease”; the TLIO's first record is in the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur.[5][2]

Semantic evolution

As a noun, “a sick person”, the word appears in Guittone d'Arezzo, before 1294, and a figurative use, “dominated by a strong feeling”, in Mino da Colle before about 1387.[5] In the Middle Ages the sick also meant the lepers in particular: a Sienese statute of about 1290 has rules on the houses maladorum, and the TLIO records malato di Campoluccio for a leper, the same as malatto.[12][2] Migliorini thought that malato against ammalato set Florentine usage apart from Sienese.[5]

The noun malattia “illness” is as old as the adjective (Giacomo da Lentini, before 1250, in the form malatia), and malaticcio “sickly” appears in the Novellino.[5][6] Modern use extends the word to organs and plants and, figuratively, to a mind gripped by an obsession or a society or economy in deep crisis.[7][10][13]

Timeline

  • Before 1250 – Mazzeo di Ricco uses malato “ill”.[5][6]
  • Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini has malatia, the noun for illness.[5]
  • About 1290 – A Sienese statute speaks of the houses of the malagdi, the lepers.[12]
  • Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses malato as a noun, “sick person”.[5]
  • Before about 1387 – Mino da Colle uses the word figuratively, “gripped by a passion”.[5]
  • 1834 – The chemical term malato “malate” is recorded.[3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. ill, sick: suffering from a disease; with di the illness, with a or di the part affected: È malato di bronchite da una settimana.[7][9][10][3]
  2. Of an organ or part of the body, diseased: un rene malato.[7][9][10]
  3. Of a plant, attacked by disease or growing poorly.[7][9][10]
  4. (figurative) Gripped by a passion or fixed idea, or disturbed, unbalanced: malato di ambizione, una mente malata.[7][9][13]
  5. (figurative) Of a state, society or economy, in serious crisis.[7][9][3]

Noun

  1. A sick person, a patient: Il medico visita i malati del reparto.[7][9][10][1]

Word family

Usage notes

Set phrases include darsi malato (to call in sick, often falsely), malato di mente (mentally ill), malato immaginario (a hypochondriac) and malato terminale.[7][13] Avere il cuore malato can mean “to be in love”.[3][14] ammalato and infermo are synonyms.[1][10]

A separate word malato, a salt or ester of malic acid, is a 19th-century chemical term formed from (acido) malico with -ato, after French malate.[7][9][3][15]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  4. ^ a b c Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  6. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  8. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 267
  12. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  13. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  15. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 9, 505