1. malus — de Vaan
The corpus record — Latin
malus
malus
unpleasant, bad
Generated live from the audited Latin corpus — every figure on this page is a database query, not prose from memory.
Where it lives
- Fragments 1 · 151.52/10k
- Adversus Hermogenem 136 · 122.46/10k
- Praefatio 2 · 85.47/10k
- Pro M. Tullio 28 · 81.49/10k
- Carmina Omnia 2 · 78.13/10k
- De Vita Beata 47 · 64.69/10k
- Truculentus 51 · 62.2/10k
- Ludus Septem Sapientum 8 · 60.65/10k
- Hamilcar 3 · 58.03/10k
- Thyestes 36 · 57.18/10k
- De Providentia 23 · 56.21/10k
- De Institutione Viri Boni, Appendix Vergiliana 1 · 54.35/10k
Densest 12 of 334 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.
What it meant
2. mălus — Lewis & Short
mălus, a, um, adj.Sanscr. mala, dirt; Gr. me/las, black; cf. macula; Germ. mal in Mutter-mal, etc..—
malus et nequam homo,Plaut. Ps. 4, 7, 1:
pessima puella,Cat. 36, 9; 55, 10:
delituit mala,Plaut. Rud. 2, 5, 9:
philosophi minime mali illi quidem, sed non satis acuti,Cic. Off. 3, 9, 23:
malam opinionem habere de aliquo,Cic. Verr. 2, 3, 24, § 59:
consuetudo,Hor. S. 1, 3, 36:
conscientia,Quint. 12, 1, 3:
mens,id. ib.:
mores,Sall. C. 18:
fures,Hor. S. 1, 1, 77:
Furiae,id. ib. 2, 3, 135:
virus,Verg. G. 1, 129:
cicuta,Hor. S. 2, 1, 56:
libido,Liv. 1, 57:
falx,Verg. E. 3, 11:
gramina,id. A. 2, 471: carmen, i. e. an incantation, Leg. XII. Tab. ap. Plin. 28, 2, 4, § 17:
abi in malam rem,go and be hanged! Ter. And. 2, 1, 17:
pugna,unsuccessful, adverse, Cic. Div. 2, 25, 54; Sall. J. 56:
avis,i. e. ill-boding, Hor. C. 1, 15, 5; cf. id. ib. 3, 6, 46:
ales,id. Epod. 10, 1: aetas, burdensome, i. e. senectus, Plaut. Aul. 1, 1, 4:
haud mala est mulier,not badlooking, id. Bacch. 5, 2, 42:
facies,Quint. 6, 3, 32; Ter. Eun. 2, 2, 43:
crus,i. e. deformed, Hor. S. 1, 2, 102:
pondus,i. e. light, deficient, Plaut. Am. 1, 1, 156.—Of the sick:
in malis aeger est,in great danger, Cels. 3, 15 fin.:
tempus a quo omnis aeger pejor fiat,id. 3, 5 med.:
eo tempore fere pessimi sunt qui aegrotant,id. ib.—In neutr. sing., as adv.:
ne gallina malum responset dura palato,Hor. S. 2, 4, 18.—Comp.: pejor, worse:
via,Hor. S. 1, 5, 96.—Hence,
orarem, ut ei, quod posses mali facere, faceres,Plaut. Bacch. 3, 6, 25:
quam sit bellum, cavere malum,Cic. de Or. 1, 58, 247:
nihil enim mali accidisse Scipioni puto,id. Lael. 3, 10:
hostes inopinato malo turbati,Caes. B. C. 2, 12:
externum, i. e. bellum,Nep. Hamilc. 21:
ne in cotidianam id malum vertat, i. e. febris,Cels. 3, 15:
hoc malo domitos potius cultores agrorum fore, quam, etc.,Liv. 2, 34, 11.—
malo domandam tribuniciam potestatem,Liv. 2, 54, 10:
malo exercitum coërcere,Sall. J. 100, 5:
sine malo,Plaut. Rud. 4, 4, 81; so Ter. Eun. 4, 4, 45; Liv. 4, 49, 11:
vi, malo, plagis adductus est, ut frumenti daret,ill-usage, Cic. Verr. 2, 3, 23, § 56:
amanti amoenitas malo est: nobis lucro est,is hurtful, injurious, Plaut. Men. 2, 3, 5:
clementiam illi malo fuisse,was injurious, unfortunate, Cic. Att. 14, 22, 1: malo hercle magno suo convivat sine modo, to his own hurt, Enn. ap. Non. 474, 23 (Sat. v. 1 Vahl.):
olet homo quidam malo suo,Plaut. Am. 1, 1, 165:
male merenti bona es: at malo cum tuo,to your own hurt, id. As. 1, 3, 3.—
causae, quae numquam malo defuturae sunt, Sen. de Ira, 1, 16, 3: sperans famam exstingui veterum sic posse malorum,Verg. A. 6, 527; Anthol. Lat. 1, 178.—
quid tu, malum, me sequere?Plaut. Cas. 1, 3:
qui, malum, alii?Ter. Eun. 4, 7, 10:
quae, malum, est ista tanta audacia?Cic. Verr. 2, 1, 20, § 54; so id. Off. 2, 15, 53; Curt. 8, 14, 41.—
di isti Segulio male faciant,do harm to him, punish him, Cic. Fam. 11, 21, 1:
o factum male de Alexione!id. Att. 15, 1, 1:
male velle alicui,to wish ill, Plaut. As. 5, 1, 13:
Karthagini male jamdiu cogitanti bellum multo ante denuntio, cogitare de aliquo,Cic. Sen. 6, 18:
male loqui,id. Rosc. Am. 48:
male loqui alicui, for maledicere,Ter. Phorm. 2, 3, 25:
male accipere verbis aliquem,Cic. Verr. 2, 1, 54, § 140:
equitatu agmen adversariorum, male habere,to harass, annoy, Caes. B. C. 1, 63:
hoc male habet virum,annoys, vexes him, Ter. And. 2, 6, 5:
male se habere,to feel ill, dejected, low-spirited, id. Eun. 4, 2, 6:
male est animo,it vexes me, id. Ad. 4, 5, 21:
male est animo,I feel unwell, Plaut. Curc. 2, 3, 33:
male fit animo,I am beginning to feel bad, am getting unwell, id. Rud. 2, 6, 26: L. Antonio male sit, si quidem, etc., evil betide him! (a formula of imprecation), Cic. Att. 15, 15, 1:
quae res tibi vertat male,much harm may it do you! Ter. Ad. 2, 1, 37:
male tibi esse malo quam molliter,I would rather you should be unfortunate than effeminate, Sen. Ep. 82, 1:
proelium male pugnatum,unsuccessfully, Sall. J. 54, 7:
ea quae male empta sunt,at a bad bargain, Cic. Att. 2, 4, 1:
male vendere,at a sacrifice, Cic. Verr. 2, 3, 98, § 227:
male reprehendunt praemeditationem rerum futurarum,id. Tusc. 3, 16, 34:
male tegere mutationem fortunae,Tac. H. 1, 66:
male sustinere arma,unskilfully, Liv. 1, 25, 12: non dubito, quin me male oderit, i. e. very much, intensely, Caes. ap. Cic. Att. 14, 1, 2:
male metuo, ne, etc.,exceedingly, much, Ter. Hec. 3, 2, 2:
rauci,miserably, Hor. S. 1, 4, 66.—
When attached to an adjective, it freq. gives it the opposite meaning: male sanus = insanus,insane, deranged, Cic. Att. 9, 15, 5:
male sana,with mind disturbed, Verg. A. 4, 8:
gratus,i. e. ungrateful, Ov. H. 7, 27:
male fidas provincias,unfaithful, Tac. H. 1, 17:
statio male fida carinis,unsafe, Verg. A. 2, 23.—Comp.:
oderam multo pejus hunc quam illum ipsum Clodium,Cic. Fam. 7, 2, 3; cf.:
pejusque leto flagitium timet,Hor. C. 4, 9, 50; and:
cane pejus vitabit chlamydem,id. Ep. 1, 17, 30.
3. mālus — Lewis & Short
mālus, i, f., Gr. mhle/a,
malus bifera,Varr. R. R. 1, 7:
et steriles platani malos gessere valentes,Verg. G. 2, 70:
malus granata,the pomegranate, Isid. 17, 7, 6:
felices arbores putantur esse quercus...malus, etc.,Macr. S. 3, 20, 2.
4. mālus — Lewis & Short
mālus, i, m.by some referred to root mac-; Gr. makros; Lat. magnus; but perh. the same word with 2. malus,
malos exaequantes altitudinem jugi surrexit,Front. Strat. 3, 8, 3.—
ut si qui gubernatorem in navigando agere nihil dicant, cum alii malos scandant, etc.,Cic. Sen. 6, 17:
malum erigi, vela fieri imperavit,Cic. Verr. 2, 5, 34, § 88:
attolli malos,Verg. A. 5, 829:
malo suspendit ab alto,id. ib. 5, 489:
saucius,injured, Hor. C. 1, 14, 5.—
turrium mali,Caes. B. G. 7, 22, 4.
In the wild
- malum Tertullian, Adversus Marcionem 1.23
- malis Silius Italicus, Punica 14.609
- mala Seneca, Ad Lucilium Epistulae Morales 8.74.12.p2
- mala Juvenal, Saturae 5.14.216
- mali Cicero, In C. Verrem 2.1.65
- male Seneca, De Providentia 1.4.16
6 of 7,985 attestations shown.
Where it came from
- Treated in de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) s.v. malus (scan pp. 374-375; entry #988). Root candidates: *malo-, *maluo-, *malio-.
- Treated in Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine s.v. malus (scan p. 405; entry #6449).
Latin text and lemmatization derived from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit), CC BY-SA 4.0. Lewis & Short (public domain) via Perseus. This derived data is shared under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 license.