Etymologically
Log in

male

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 21 October 2026 at 19:09. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

Forms

male (comparative peggio, superlative malissimo)[1] As a noun it is masculine, plural mali.[1][2] Before another word it is often shortened to mal.[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin male (“badly”), the adverb of malus (“bad”).[5][6][7][1] The noun “evil; pain, illness” is the same adverb used as a noun, a change that happened in all Romance languages.[6][8][3] Devoto–Oli, Gabrielli and the GDLI also see Latin malum (“evil”) behind the noun, crossed with the adverb, and Körting thought either source possible.[9][2][10][11]

The word is French mal, Occitan mal, Catalan mal, Spanish mal, Portuguese mal, Sardinian male, Friulian mal, Romansh miel and Dalmatian mul: Romanian is the only exception.[6][8][12] The Latin adjective may go back to Proto-Italic *malos and a PIE ⟨*mol-o-⟩ “bad”, with Oscan ⟨mallom⟩, Old Irish mell (“destruction”), Ancient Greek μέλεος (méleos, “idle, unhappy”) and Lithuanian mẽlas (“lie”) as possible cognates, but de Vaan finds this uncertain because the words are isolated in their branches.[13][1]

Latin already formed compounds with the adverb: maledīcō (“to speak ill of”) gave maledire, with its religious sense from Church Latin, and maleficus (“wicked”) gave malefico.[5] Italian made many more, such as malcontento, maldestro and malconcio, often written separately at first;[5] malinteso copies French malentendu.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the Tuscan testimonies of Travale of 1158, with the sense “in a way that is not right or good”.[5][7] The noun follows in the 13th century: Giacomo da Lentini, before 1250, uses it for physical or moral suffering.[5][6]

Semantic evolution

By the end of the 13th century the noun had its main senses: “what is wicked” and “illness” in Guittone d'Arezzo, and “harm, misfortune” and “what is useless” in Brunetto Latini.[5] Tuscan proverbs pair the adverb and the noun: “Chi mal fa, male aspetta” (who does evil should expect evil).[14]

Nocentini notes how many names Italian has for epilepsy: brutto male, mal caduco, mal maestro, male benedetto; the pejorative malaccio is a euphemism for cancer.[6][8] Many illnesses are named with mal di (mal di mare “seasickness”, mal di testa “headache”).[1][9] The use of male as an adjective in non è male “not bad (looking)” was noted as French in 1950.[5] English used mal for an illness from 1732, after French and Italian.[15]

Timeline

  • 1158 – The testimonies of Travale use male “badly”.[5]
  • Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses the noun for suffering.[5]
  • 13th century – Malore “sudden illness” is recorded.[6]
  • Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses the noun for “evil” and “illness”.[5]
  • 1313–1319 – Dante uses the adverb for “unsatisfactorily, to one's disadvantage”.[5]
  • 17th century – Permaloso “touchy” is formed from aversene per male.[6]
  • 1732 – English mal “illness” is recorded.[15]
  • 1950 – Non è male “not bad” is noted as a French usage.[5]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. badly, wrongly, in a way that is not right or proper: Si è comportato male con sua sorella.[7][3][9]
  2. Poorly, unsatisfactorily: Stanotte ho dormito male.[7][3]
  3. Rudely, harshly: ha risposto male al professore.[7][4]
  4. In poor health or spirits, in stare male and sentirsi male.[7][9]
  5. Unfavourably, with ill will, as in parlare male di qualcuno.[7][9]
  6. Imperfectly, with verbs of perception or working: ci sento male da un orecchio.[3][7]
  7. As an exclamation, “that's bad!”.[3]

Noun

  1. evil, what is morally wrong: il bene e il male.[7][3]
  2. harm, damage, misfortune: augurare del male a qualcuno.[7][3][2]
  3. pain, ache: mal di denti.[7][3][1]
  4. illness, disease: soffre di un male raro.[7][3]
  5. Moral suffering: mal d’amore.[7][3]

Word family

  • malaccio
  • malore
  • ammalare
  • permaloso
  • malanno
  • malamente
  • malconcio
  • malcontento
  • maldestro
  • malandato
  • malaugurato
  • malaccorto
  • malagevole
  • maldicente
  • malfare
  • malo
  • malvagio
  • maledire
  • malefico
  • Latin malus

Usage notes

Everyday phrases include meno male “thank goodness”, non c'è male “not too bad”, andare a male “to go off” (of food), farsi male “to hurt oneself” and niente male “not bad at all”.[1][7][2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  4. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 e f g 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 l m n De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  8. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  9. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  10. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 9, 519
  11. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
  12. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2328
  13. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  14. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  15. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it