malato Italian · revision 38456

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=before 1250, Mazzeo di Ricco|origins=la male, la habeō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /maˈla.to/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''malato''' (feminine malata, masculine plural malati, feminine plural malate)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old forms include [[roa-oit|malatto]], [[roa-oit|malado]], [[roa-oit|malada]] and [[roa-oit|maroto]] in Genoa.^(TLIO)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Körting 1907)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la-lat|male habitus|t=in a bad state]], a phrase of [[m|la|male|t=badly]] and [[m|la|habitus]], the past participle of [[m|la|habeō|t=to have; to hold oneself]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wikizionario) The phrase is found in an anecdote of Masurius Sabinus told by Aulus Gellius, in which a horse [[m|la|male habitus|alt=male habitum]] is set against a rider in fine condition; the sense “being in good or bad shape” was helped along by [[grc|κακῶς ἔχων|tr=kakôs ékhōn|t=being in a bad way]], of which the Latin is a calque.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) J. Cornu first proposed this source in 1874, and it is now generally accepted.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ The phrase regularly gave [[roa-oit|malatto]], which took its present form on the model of the past participles in [[-ato]].^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026) Devoto and Devoto–Oli see a crossing with a verb [[malare|t=to fall ill]] (compare [[ammalare]]), of which the adjective would be the participle, and the TLIO derives it from [[ammalato]], mixed with [[m|roa-oit|malatto]], and thinks the Genoese [[m|roa-oit|maroto]] was taken from [[pro|malaut]].^(Devoto 1968|267)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(TLIO) Körting too took it for the participle of “malare”.^(Körting 1907)

+

+ The same phrase gave [[fr|malade]], [[oc|malaute]] and [[ca|malalt]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(Körting 1907)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first record DELI gives is in Mazzeo di Ricco, before 1250: ''L’omo ch’è malato, / poi che torna in sanare'', “the man who is ill, once he gets well again”, forgets the pain he went through.^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI) The sense is “ill, suffering from a disease”; the TLIO's first record is in the Venetian ''Proverbia que dicuntur''.^(DELI 1999)^(TLIO)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ As a noun, “a sick person”, the word appears in Guittone d'Arezzo, before 1294, and a figurative use, “dominated by a strong feeling”, in Mino da Colle before about 1387.^(DELI 1999) In the Middle Ages the sick also meant the lepers in particular: a Sienese statute of about 1290 has rules on the houses ''maladorum'', and the TLIO records ''malato di Campoluccio'' for a leper, the same as ''malatto''.^(GDLI)^(TLIO) Migliorini thought that ''malato'' against ''ammalato'' set Florentine usage apart from Sienese.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ The noun ''malattia'' “illness” is as old as the adjective (Giacomo da Lentini, before 1250, in the form ''malatia''), and ''malaticcio'' “sickly” appears in the ''Novellino''.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010) Modern use extends the word to organs and plants and, figuratively, to a mind gripped by an obsession or a society or economy in deep crisis.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Before 1250 – Mazzeo di Ricco uses ''malato'' “ill”.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini has ''malatia'', the noun for illness.^(DELI 1999)

+ * About 1290 – A Sienese statute speaks of the houses of the ''malagdi'', the lepers.^(GDLI)

+ * Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses ''malato'' as a noun, “sick person”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before about 1387 – Mino da Colle uses the word figuratively, “gripped by a passion”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1834 – The chemical term ''malato'' “malate” is recorded.^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|ill]], [[m|en|sick]]: suffering from a disease; with ''di'' the illness, with ''a'' or ''di'' the part affected: ''È malato di bronchite da una settimana.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # Of an organ or part of the body, diseased: ''un rene malato''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # Of a plant, attacked by disease or growing poorly.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(figurative)'' Gripped by a passion or fixed idea, or disturbed, unbalanced: ''malato di ambizione'', ''una mente malata''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(figurative)'' Of a state, society or economy, in serious [[m|en|crisis]].^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A sick person, a [[m|en|patient]]: ''Il medico visita i malati del reparto.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[malattia]]

+ * [[malaticcio]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[male]]

+ * [[ammalato]]

+ * [[ammalare]]

+ * [[fr|malade]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Set phrases include ''darsi malato'' (to call in sick, often falsely), ''malato di mente'' (mentally ill), ''malato immaginario'' (a hypochondriac) and ''malato terminale''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011) ''Avere il cuore malato'' can mean “to be in love”.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Gabrielli 2020) [[ammalato]] and [[infermo]] are synonyms.^(Wiktionary)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ A separate word ''malato'', a salt or ester of malic acid, is a 19th-century chemical term formed from ''(acido) malico'' with ''-ato'', after [[fr|malate]].^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(GDLI|9, 505)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}