malignus

Forms

malignus (feminine maligna, neuter malignum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin male (“badly”) + -gnus (“born”), from the root of gignō (“to beget”), formed as the opposite of benignus (“kind, generous”);^[1][2][3][4] compare prīvignus (“stepson”).^[2] De Vaan lists it under both malus (“bad”) and ⟨gignō⟩, where he counts the compounds in ⟨-gnus⟩ “born” as the only inherited type, from Proto-Indo-European *-ǵnh₁-o-.^[5] For ⟨malus⟩ he reports a possible Proto-Indo-European *mol-o- (“bad”), which he calls uncertain.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^[5][4] in whom a man's character is tested, whether he is as he should be, “mean or generous”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is ungenerous, grudging, from Plautus, Terence and Catullus on, and Virgil applies it to stingy soil and grudging hills.^[2] Of things it is scanty, poor or narrow, as Virgil's narrow approaches.^[2] From Horace on it is spiteful, ill-disposed: Horace scorns the spiteful crowd, and Virgil has ships watched with jealous eyes.^[2] In Lucan and later poets it is harmful, unfavourable.^[2] Lewis and Short call these senses mostly poetic and post-Augustan.^[3]

Church Latin has it for malignant, evil, malicious, and as a noun an evildoer;^[6] in Medieval Latin malignus as a noun is the Devil.^[7] English malign (early 14th century) came from it through Old French maligne.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus in the sense “mean, ungenerous”.^[2][4]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of grudging soil and narrow entrances.^[2][4]
• 65–8 BC – Horace in the sense “spiteful”.^[2][4]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine.^[4]
• early 14th century – English malign.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Ungenerous, mean, grudging; of soil, unproductive.^[2][1]
2. Of things, scanty, poor; narrow, shallow.^[2]
3. Ill-disposed, spiteful, malicious, envious.^[2][3][1][6]
4. Of things, harmful, unfavourable, malignant.^[2][1][6]

Noun

1. (Ecclesiastical Latin) An evildoer;^[6][7] (Medieval Latin) the Devil.^[6][7]

Word family

• malignitās

Related words

• benignus
• malus
• malevolus
• English malign

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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 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 e Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com