Etymologically
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maleficus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [maˈɫɛ.fɪ.kʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [maˈlɛː.fi.kus][1]

Forms

maleficus m (genitive maleficī); second declension[1] Also malificus, a spelling the TLL compares with magnificus.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin male (“badly”) + -ficus (“doing”), belonging with malefaciō (“to do wrong”).[2][1][3] Quintilian cites it as a compound that grew together out of two bodies.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Livius Andronicus has it first, in the phrase malefica vacerra, “wicked blockhead”.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It is evil-doing, wicked or criminal: Cicero has a man wicked and unjust by nature, and wicked and criminal men.[5] Suetonius has the superlative maleficentissimus.[5][2] Of things it is harmful, as the many harmful kinds of animals in Sallust.[2] Apuleius uses it of black magic, and Tacitus has an early instance of that use.[2][6] As a masculine noun it is a wrongdoer or criminal, and in Late Latin a sorcerer.[2][1][4] Medieval Latin keeps maleficus “sorcerer” and malefica “sorceress”.[6] English maleficent was formed from it in the 1670s.[7]

Timeline

  • 280/260–before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus, “wicked blockhead”.[2][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of wicked men.[5][4]
  • 86–34 BC – Sallust, of harmful animals.[2][4]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius, of black magic.[2][4]
  • Medieval Latin – A sorcerer; a sorceress.[6]
  • 1670s – English maleficent.[7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Evil-doing, wicked, criminal.[2][5][1][8]
  2. Harmful, noxious.[2]
  3. Of black magic, magical.[2][6][8]

Noun

  1. A wrongdoer, criminal.[2][1]
  2. (Late and Medieval Latin) A sorcerer;[1][6] (feminine, malefica) a sorceress.[1][6]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson