maleficus

Latin

Etymology

Derived from male (“badly, wrongly”) +‎ -ficus (suffix denoting making or doing).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /maˈle.fi.kus/, [mäˈɫ̪ɛfɪkʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /maˈle.fi.kus/, [mäˈlɛːfikus]

Noun

maleficus m (genitive maleficī); second declension

1. doer of wrong, evildoer, criminal (person)
2. sorcerer, magician
   • (Can we date this quote?), S. Hieronymus, Commentarii [Commentaries]:

     Maleficos, quos vel veneficos possumus appellare, vel dæmonum phantasmatibus servientes."

     Sorcerors, whom we can call either wizards or [men] serving the phantasms of demons."

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	maleficus	maleficī
genitive	maleficī	maleficōrum
dative	maleficō	maleficīs
accusative	maleficum	maleficōs
ablative	maleficō	maleficīs
vocative	malefice	maleficī

Adjective

maleficus (feminine malefica, neuter maleficum); first/second-declension adjective

1. wicked, vicious
2. criminal

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	maleficus	malefica	maleficum		maleficī	maleficae	malefica
genitive	maleficī	maleficae	maleficī		maleficōrum	maleficārum	maleficōrum
dative	maleficō	maleficae	maleficō		maleficīs
accusative	maleficum	maleficam	maleficum		maleficōs	maleficās	malefica
ablative	maleficō	maleficā	maleficō		maleficīs
vocative	malefice	malefica	maleficum		maleficī	maleficae	malefica

Related terms

• malefaciō

Descendants

• → Catalan: malèfic
• → French: maléfique
• → German: malefiz
• → Italian: malefico
• → Piedmontese: maléfich
• → Portuguese: maléfico
• → Spanish: maléfico
• → Romanian: malefic
• →⇒ English: maleficent

References

• “maleficus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “maleficus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• maleficus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• maleficus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.