maledicus

Forms

maledicus (feminine maledica, neuter maledicum, comparative maledīcentior, superlative maledīcentissimus); first/second-declension adjective^[1] The comparative and superlative are supplied by maledīcentior and maledīcentissimus, from maledīcēns.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin male (“badly”) + -dicus (“saying”), the adjective beside maledīcō (“to speak ill of, slander”).^[4][1][2] The second part belongs to dīcō² (“to say”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *deik-e/o- (“to say”) and Proto-Indo-European *deiḱ-e/o- (“to show”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it from Plautus on,^[2] whose Asinaria has pro dictis vostris maledicis, “for your abusive words”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Of persons it means evil-speaking, slanderous, abusive: the Rhetorica ad Herennium speaks of people malevolent and abusive by nature, and Cicero of a suspicious and slanderous city and of an abusive railer.^[4][6] Quintilian has maledicum esse in aliquem, “to be abusive towards someone”.^[4][6] Of things it is used of speech and remarks, as in Valerius Maximus' maledica lingua of Old Comedy, and Quintilian uses the neuter plural for abusive matter in iambic verse.^[4][3] Rufinus defines the maledicus as anyone whose speech aims to defame or disparage another, even if it does not seem insulting.^[2] In Ecclesiastical Latin it means foul-mouthed, slanderous, and as a noun a railer;^[7] Stelten also lists the sense cursed, accursed.^[7] Medieval writers in Britain use it of persons, speech and things, as Bede of evil-speaking men and a council record of 1408 of a schism.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of abusive words.^[4][2][9]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of slanderous people and of a city.^[4][9]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of abusive speakers and verse.^[4][9]
• Medieval Latin – Bede uses it of evil-speaking men.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of persons, evil-speaking, slanderous, abusive, foul-mouthed.^[4][6]
2. Of speech and remarks, abusive, scurrilous; in the neuter plural, abusive things.^[4][6]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) As a noun, a railer, slanderer.^[7]
4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Cursed, accursed.^[7]

Related words

• maledictum
• maledīcentia
• benedīcō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de