Etymologically
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malignus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [maˈlɪŋ.nʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [maˈliɲ.ɲus][1]

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

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