malvagio

Forms

malvagio (feminine malvagia, masculine plural malvagi, feminine plural malvagie or malvage)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Occitan malvatz, which meant “unhappy, wretched” (about 1150).^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][1]} GRADIT and Devoto–Oli derive it instead from Old French malvais (1080), the ancestor of French mauvais, and DELI and Nocentini name both.^{[8][9][2][10]}

Both go back to Late Latin malifātius (“having a bad fate, unfortunate”), a compound of malus (“bad”) and fātum (“fate”).^{[11][12][5][1]} DELI and Nocentini give it as an unrecorded spoken form, Vulgar Latin *malifātius.^[2][10] DEI sees it as formed on the model of Latin Bonifātius, “having a good fate”, both calqued on Ancient Greek εὔμοιρος (eúmoiros) and Ancient Greek κακόμοιρος (kakómoiros).^[11][13]

The step from “ill-fated” to “wicked” is common, and DELI mentions the suggestion that the doctrine of predestination favoured it, and Baldinger's view that the use began in pagan times and was spread by the Church.^[2] Nocentini explains it by the Christian belief that the wicked are bound for a bad end.^[10]

Diez had proposed a Germanic source related to Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐌻𐍅𐌰𐍅𐌴𐍃𐌴𐌹 (balwawēsei, “wickedness”), which Zaccaria still supported.^[14][15] Bugge argued against it, and Körting lists other proposals that the later dictionaries do not follow.^[15] Spanish malvado is borrowed from the related malvat.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Bonagiunta Orbicciani, before about 1257, with the sense “malign, perfidious”.^[2] The GDLI quotes him: per la malvagia gente che m’ha morto (“for the wicked people who have killed me”).^[16] The noun, “a wicked person”, is recorded in Brunetto Latini before 1294.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian had many forms: malvascio and malvasgio, malvasio in Guittone, malvaxe and malvàggio.^[16][17] The spelling with -gg- must have been common, since a later grammarian warned against it.^[2] Northern surnames such as Malvasio and Malavasi keep the old forms.^[17]

The older, weaker sense “bad, adverse, hard” is literary: Dante's La via è lunga e ’l cammino è malvagio (“the way is long and the road is hard”) and Petrarch's malvagia sorte (“adverse fate”).^[8][9][4] Zingarelli also lists the obsolete sense “unfortunate, wretched”, the sense of the Occitan source.^[3] Boccaccio used it for “false”, of loaded dice.^[8][18] The derivative malvagità is recorded from Guittone, before 1294.^[2]

In modern use il Malvagio is the Devil, and in negative phrases the word softens to praise: non è un'idea malvagia means the idea is quite good.^[8][4][12]

Timeline

• 1080 – Old French malvais is recorded.^[2]
• About 1150 – Old Occitan malvatz “unhappy” is recorded.^[2]
• Before about 1257 – Bonagiunta Orbicciani uses malvagio for “malign, perfidious”.^[2]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses it as a noun, and Guittone has malvagità.^[2]
• 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses malvagità for a wicked act.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. wicked, evil: of a person who takes pleasure in doing harm: un tiranno malvagio.^[8][9][12]
2. Showing or done with wickedness: uno sguardo malvagio.^[8][9][4]
3. (colloquial) Very bad, of poor quality, often in negative phrases with the sense “quite good”: il film non era affatto malvagio.^[8][9][12]
4. (archaic, literary) Hard, harsh, adverse.^[8][9][3]
5. (literary) False.^[8][3][12]

Noun

1. A wicked person: i malvagi saranno puniti.^[8][3][5]
2. il Malvagio: the Devil.^[8][3][4]

Word family

• malvagità
• malvagiamente

Related words

• fato
• malo
• Old Occitan malvatz
• French mauvais
• Latin malifatius

Usage notes

The feminine plural is malvagie or, less often, malvage.^[9][1][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
5. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
6. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
12. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
14. ^ Zaccaria, Enrico (1901), L'elemento germanico nella lingua italiana: lessico con appendice e prospetto cronologico, Bologna: Treves
15. ^ a b Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
16. ^ 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, 583
17. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
18. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET