maledetto

Forms

maledetto (feminine maledetta, masculine plural maledetti, feminine plural maledette, superlative maledettissimo, adverb maledettamente)^[1] Older and Tuscan forms are Old Italian maladetto and Old Italian malidetto.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is the past participle of maledire (“to curse”), used as an adjective and a noun, and continues inherited from Latin maledictus (“cursed”), the participle of maledīcō (“to speak ill of; to curse”).^[5][6][7][1] The Latin verb is a compound of male (“badly”) and dīcō (“to say”), and its sense “to curse” belongs to the language of the Church.^[5][1] DEI calls the participle panromance in the West and notes that it passed into Old Irish maldacht and Middle Breton milliget; from the Latin feminine came Spanish maleta (“illness”) and Portuguese maleita (“fever”).^[6]

It is the opposite of benedetto.^[6][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is Dante's Commedia (1300–1313), in the form maladetto, for something that brings a curse or misfortune;^[9][4] Virgil silences Plutus with “Taci, maladetto lupo!” (“Be silent, cursed wolf!”).^[9][4] The noun, a person to be cursed, follows in the Inferno and Purgatorio period (1313–1319).^[9]

Semantic evolution

Boccaccio used the form maledetto in the Decameron (1348–1353), and also the weakened sense “unbearable, very annoying”.^[9] In the language of religion the word describes the damned and the fallen angels.^[10][11]

The intensifying use, as in una fame maledetta “a terrible hunger”, and the sense “horrible” in tempo maledetto are recorded in the Tuscan proverbs of 1853.^[9][12] Poeta maledetto renders the French poète maudit of the decadents; in Italian it is recorded in Ardengo Soffici in 1913, and it was later extended to any artist whose life breaks with social rules.^[9][2][10]

Timeline

• 1300–1313 – Dante uses maladetto “cursed”.^[9]
• 1313–1319 – Dante uses it as a noun for a damned person.^[9]
• 1348–1353 – Boccaccio writes maledetto, also in the sense “unbearable”.^[9]
• Before 1484 – Luigi Pulci uses maledetto for “annoying”.^[9]
• 1853 – The sense “horrible” is recorded in the Tuscan proverbs.^[9]
• 1913 – Ardengo Soffici uses poeta maledetto.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. cursed, struck by a divine curse; damned: un castello maledetto.^[10][2][11]
2. Bringing misfortune and ruin: Quella estate maledetta non finiva più.^[10][12][8]
3. (colloquial) Hateful, annoying, used as a curse word: Dove ho messo quelle maledette chiavi?^[10][2][11]
4. (colloquial) Terrible, very strong: Dopo la corsa avevo una fame maledetta.^[2][12][8]
5. (literature) Poeti maledetti: the French decadent poets at odds with the society of their time; by extension, rebellious artists.^[2][12][10]

Noun

1. A person under a curse, (literary, plural) the damned.^[12][11][3]
2. A person one hates or curses: Se ne è andato, quel maledetto!^[10][11][8]

Word family

• maledettamente
• maledettismo

Related words

• maledire
• maledizione
• benedetto
• Latin maledictus

Usage notes

In exclamations maledetto is often used with the verb left out: maledetto il giorno che… (“cursed be the day that…”).^[3][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
4. ^ 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, 526
5. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2328
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 268
8. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
11. ^ a b c d e f Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
12. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli