malefic

Forms

malefic m or n (feminine singular malefică, masculine plural malefici, feminine/neuter plural malefice)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French maléfique, a learned borrowing of the modern period.^[2][3][4][1] The French adjective is from Latin maleficus (“evil-doing, wicked”),^[1] itself formed from male (“badly”) and the suffix -ficus (“making, doing”).^[1][5] The neologism dictionaries name the Latin word beside the French one as a model.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Costinescu's dictionary of 1870 already lists the adjective, in the Latinist spelling maleficŭ, for something that has a bad influence or is seen as an evil omen, and notes its use of planets and stars to which superstition ascribes a harmful influence.^[8] MDA2 dates its first record only to the DEX of 1975.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The astrological sense of the 19th century has widened to the general sense of something with a baleful, fatal influence.^[8][2] DEX 1998 and NODEX label it literary.^[9][10]

Timeline

• 1870 – maleficŭ in Costinescu's dictionary, of planets and stars with a harmful influence.^[8]
• 1975 – recorded in the DEX, the first record MDA2 gives.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (literary) Having a baleful, harmful or fatal influence: o influență malefică “an evil influence”.^[2][9][1]

Related words

• French maléfique
• Latin maleficus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 613
3. ^ a b c Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1423
4. ^ Costăchescu, Adriana; Dincă, Daniela; Dragoste, Ramona; Popescu, Mihaela; Scurtu, Gabriela (2009–2010), Dicționar de împrumuturi lexicale din limba franceză (DILF), 2 vols., Craiova: Universitaria
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România
7. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual
8. ^ a b c Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 62
9. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan” (1998), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române, 2nd ed., București: Univers Enciclopedic, p. 594
10. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional