male Latin · revision 9563
16 Oct 2026, 19:06 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
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+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=derivation|attested=Ennius|origins=la malus}}
+
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈma.ɫɛ]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈmaː.le]^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Forms==
+ '''male''' (comparative peius, superlative pessimē)^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is from [[malus]] “bad” with the adverbial ending [[-ē]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan reports Ernout and Meillet's reconstruction [[itc-pro|*malo-]] from [[ine-pro|*mol-o-|t=bad]], semantically fine but uncertain.^(de Vaan 2008)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ Köbler's earliest source is Ennius, whom he dates 204–169 BC, and the OLD's first citations are from Plautus.^(Köbler 2010)^(OLD 2012)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ It meant unpleasantly, painfully, as in Plautus; wickedly, wrongfully, ''male audīre'' to have a bad reputation, as in Cicero; imperfectly, badly; scarcely, barely; as a near negative, not properly; to ill effect, at a loss; unsuccessfully; inopportunely; and as an intensifier of bad words, badly, severely, awfully.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) Cicero has ''male olēre'' “to smell bad”.^(Gaffiot 2016) It forms compounds such as [[maledīcō]] “to speak ill” and [[malefaciō]] “to do harm”.^(Wiktionary)^(Gaffiot 2016)
+
+ In Ecclesiastical Latin ''male habēre'' was to be ill.^(Stelten 1995) It survives in Italian ''male'', French and Spanish ''mal''.^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it.^(Köbler 2010)
+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it in many senses.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero has ''male audīre''.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Adverb===
+ # Badly, wrongly; wickedly.^(OLD 2012)
+ # Painfully, unpleasantly.^(OLD 2012)
+ # Imperfectly; scarcely; not properly.^(OLD 2012)
+ # At a loss; unsuccessfully; inopportunely.^(OLD 2012)
+ # (intensifying) Severely, awfully.^(OLD 2012)
+
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[maledīcō]]
+ * [[malefaciō]]
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[malus]]
+ * [[bene]]
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}