malta

Forms

malta f (plural malte)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin maltha (“putty, mortar”), from Ancient Greek μάλθα (máltha, “a mixture of wax and pitch”).^[2][3][1][4] In Latin it named various pastes used in building, to bond walls or to make them waterproof.^[3] The Greek word, also μάλθη (málthē), was used for caulking and for the coat of wax spread on writing tablets.^[2][5] It is related to μαλθακός (malthakós, “soft”) and μαλακός (malakós, “soft”), as the ancient grammarians already held, but its Indo-European source is unclear.^[2][3] Devoto–Oli and Zingarelli connect it with μαλθάσσω (malthássō, “to soften”).^[6][7]

Medieval Latin has malta (“lime”) at Parma in 1255.^[8][9] The Latin word also gave Romansh molta and Old Occitan mauta.^[4] Prati derives mota (“mud”) from it, through a form with ⟨au⟩, and Meyer-Lübke also motriglia.^[10][4][11] Meyer-Lübke doubted that mattone (“brick”) belongs here, since nothing explains its ⟨tt⟩.^[4]

Zaccaria took the old sense “mud” to be Germanic, from Old High German molta (“dust, earth”).^[12] The other dictionaries derive all the senses from Latin.^[2][3][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in the Milanese poet Uguccione da Lodi, in the 13th century, who has a tomb sealed de malta e de calcina (“with mortar and lime”).^[2][13]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th and 15th centuries the word often meant mud or mire, as in Sacchetti, Pulci and Berni.^[10][8] Sacchetti has people who si trovò nella malta insino a gola (“found himself in the muck up to the throat”), where it means filth.^[5] Dante's line sì che per simil non s'entrò in malta is read as a damp underground prison, though the interpretation is not certain.^[5][9] DEI also records the sense “clay” (1564) and “lime” (1585, Garzoni), and in Venetian malta is still lime.^[8][10]

Palladio explains that mortar takes three parts of quarry sand to one of lime.^[13] Oudin's dictionary of 1639 has maltare “to build with mortar” and maltaruola “trowel”.^[10][8] Czech and Slovak borrowed the word as malta, and it is used as a technical term in Bavarian German.^[1][14]

Timeline

• 1255 – Medieval Latin malta “lime” is recorded at Parma.^[8][9]
• 13th century – Uguccione da Lodi writes de malta e de calcina.^[2]
• 1319 – Maltarolus is recorded at Verona.^[8]
• 1564 – The sense “clay” is recorded.^[8]
• 1585 – Garzoni uses the word for lime.^[8]
• 1639 – Oudin records maltare.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. (construction) mortar: a paste of a binder such as lime or cement with sand and water, used to bond bricks and stones: malta grassa (rich in lime), malta magra (rich in sand), malta idraulica (setting under water).^[9][6][7]
2. (archaic or regional) mud, mire.^{[9][6][15][16]}
3. (obsolete) An underground prison, a dungeon.^[9][7]

Word family

• maltare
• ammaltare

Related words

• mota
• Latin maltha

Usage notes

Malta with a capital is the island and state in the Mediterranean, a name Italian took from Maltese.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
5. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
6. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2335
9. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c d Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 622
11. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
12. ^ Zaccaria, Enrico (1901), L'elemento germanico nella lingua italiana: lessico con appendice e prospetto cronologico, Bologna: Treves
13. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 9, 577
14. ^ Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
15. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
16. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana