Etymologically
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malattia

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Pronunciation

  • /ma.latˈti.a/[1]

Forms

malattia f (plural malattie)[1] Old forms include Old Italian malatia, Old Italian malazia and Old Italian malitia.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Italian malato + -ia, the abstract noun of the adjective “sick”.[4][5][6] Several sources start from Old Italian malatto, the northern form of the adjective, which continues Late Latin male habitus (“in a bad condition”), from male (“badly”) and habitus, the past participle of habeō (“to have, to hold”).[7][8][2]

The same formation is French maladie, Old Occitan malautia, Catalan malaltia and Portuguese maladia, and Sicilian malatìa in Sicily.[1][9] Körting notes that these nouns, with īnfirmitās (Italian infermità), drove Latin morbus (“disease”) out of everyday Romance use, so that Italian morbo lives on only as a learned word.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The form malatia appears before 1250 in Giacomo da Lentini, where it already has the figurative sense “ill, vice”, and in the northern poem Della caducità della vita umana of the 13th century, with the sense “disease”.[3][4][2] The form malattia is first found in Brunetto Latini, who died in 1294.[3]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th century Giovanni Villani and Matteo Villani wrote of diseases of cold in winter and many fevers in summer.[10] The figurative “moral ill, vice” is in a 14th-century translation of Josephus.[3] Modern dictionaries extend the word to plants, and to the faults of materials such as wine, wood and pearls.[4][7]

In everyday speech malattia is also sick leave: one si mette in malattia and is paid for the days.[4][5][6] Set phrases include malattia professionale “occupational disease”, malattia del bacio “mononucleosis” and malattia diplomatica, an illness claimed to avoid an engagement.[5][11][6]

Timeline

  • Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses malatia.[3][4]
  • 13th century – Della caducità della vita umana uses malatia for disease.[3]
  • Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses the form malattia.[3]
  • 14th century – A translation of Josephus uses it for a moral ill.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A disease, an illness: any change in the structure or working of an organism or of one of its organs: È guarito da una lunga malattia.[4][5][7]
  2. The time during which one is ill.[4][5]
  3. (colloquial) Paid sick leave; the days of such leave: È a casa in malattia da una settimana.[4][5][6]
  4. A disease of plants, caused by parasites, viruses, fungi or the environment.[4][6]
  5. A fault in a material or substance: le malattie del vino.[4][7][6]
  6. (figurative) A disturbance of the mind; a vice or obsession: Per lui il gioco è diventato una malattia.[4][7][11]
  7. (figurative) A state of crisis.[4][7]

Usage notes

Fare una malattia di qualcosa is to take something very badly, to torment oneself over it.[12][4]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 9, 505
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  5. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d e f Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  7. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 267
  9. ^ a b Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
  10. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  11. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  12. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli