Etymologically
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maledicus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [maˈɫɛ.dɪ.kʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [maˈlɛː.di.kus][1]

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]

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