malo

Forms

malo (feminine mala, masculine plural mali, feminine plural male)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin malus (“bad, evil”).^[2][3][4][1] The GDLI calls it a learned word, while DEI counts it among the Latin words continued in all Romance languages except Romanian.^[5][6] The same word is French mal, Occitan mal, Catalan mal, Spanish malo and Sardinian malu.^[3][7][8] The rare noun meaning “evil, misfortune”, recorded in the 14th century, is a learned form of malum (“evil”).^[6]

The origin of the Latin adjective is uncertain.^[2][9][1] It is matched by Oscan mallom (“bad”), perhaps a loan from Latin.^[10][9] One proposal, which Nocentini and Wiktionary report, derives it from Proto-Indo-European *mol-o- (“bad”) and compares Old Irish mell (“destruction”), Ancient Greek μέλεος (méleos, “idle; unhappy”) and Lithuanian mẽlas (“lie”);^[3][10][1] De Vaan finds it plausible in meaning but uncertain, since these are isolated words in different branches.^[3][10][1] DEI regards it as an old word of the Indo-European religious vocabulary.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI dates the adjective to the 12th century, in the Sermoni subalpini, with the sense “bad, sad, wicked”; the form malo itself is in Guittone d'Arezzo before 1294.^[2][4] Guittone contrasts the wicked rich with the good poor: qui ricchi son mali, / miseri boni (“here the rich are bad, the poor good”).^[5]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian malo was the ordinary opposite of buono;^[4][11] Dante uses it also for “incompetent” (lo mal fabbro, the bad smith who blames the iron) and for a barren or noxious plant (la mala pianta).^[4][11] In modern Italian cattivo has replaced it, and malo survives only before a few nouns, for example in malo modo, mala femmina and male parole.^[3][11]

Placed before a noun it formed many set phrases that are now often written as one word, partly influenced by male: malanno (13th century), malalingua (1437–1438), malaria (1572), malafede (1673), malacopia (1754).^[2] Some are French: malgrado is malgré.^[2] Malocchio, the evil eye, belongs to the belief in the jettatore, and malavita is of southern origin.^[2][12]

Timeline

• 12th century – The Sermoni subalpini use the adjective.^[2]
• 13th century – Malanno is recorded in Monte Andrea.^[2]
• Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses malo;^[2] Brunetto Latini uses malamente.^[2]
• 1437–1438 – Leon Battista Alberti uses malalingua.^[2]
• 1572 – Malaria is recorded in Guarini.^[2]
• 1673 – Malafede is recorded.^[2]
• 1754 – Goldoni uses malacopia.^[2]
• 1905 – Mala vita is recorded by Panzini.^[12]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (literary) wicked, inclined to do evil.^[4][13][14]
2. (literary) Bad, harmful or unfavourable; now mostly in set phrases: in malo modo, a mala pena, mala sorte.^{[4][15][14][16]}
3. (archaic) Incapable, unfit, defective.^[4][14][1]
4. (archaic) Mistaken, false.^[4]
5. (archaic) Ill-omened, baneful.^[4]
6. (archaic) Of a plant, barren or weedy.^[4]

Noun

1. (archaic) Evil, misfortune.^[4][6]

Word family

• malamente
• malaffare
• malalingua
• malaugurio
• malavita
• malocchio
• malacopia
• malacreanza
• malafede
• malagrazia
• malanimo
• malanno
• malaparata
• malapena
• malasorte
• malcostume

Related words

• male
• malizia
• Latin malus

Usage notes

Before a masculine singular noun malo is usually cut to mal (mal tempo, mal punto); the old masculine plural could be cut to ma’.^[15][13][16]

GRADIT also has a malo recorded in 1957, the name of the Malo, a people of Ethiopia living by the middle course of the Omo.^[4]

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 i j k l m n Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
6. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2334
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
9. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
12. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 622
13. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
16. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli