maleficium

Latin

Etymology

From maleficus +‎ -ium.

Noun

maleficium n (genitive maleficiī or maleficī); second declension

1. crime, misdeed, offence, evil deed, wrong, mischief

   Synonyms: peccātum, scelus, vitium, noxa, culpa, error, crīmen, facinus, iniūria, dēlīctum, flāgitium, malum, dēlinquentia, commissum

   Antonyms: bonum, rēctum, virtūs

   • c. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico 1.7:

     […] neque hominēs inimīcō animō, datā facultāte per Prōvinciam itineris faciendī, temperātūrōs ab iniūriā et maleficiō exīstimābat.

     Furthermore, [Caesar] judged that people of such a hostile disposition, if given the opportunity to march through the Province, would not refrain from injustice and evil-doing.

2. injury, hurt

   Synonyms: damnum, incommoditās, dētrīmentum, calamitās, iniūria, vulnus, noxa, fraus, pauperiēs

   Antonyms: beneficium, favor

3. fraud, deception

   Synonyms: dēceptiō, fraus, dolus, perfidia, stratēgēma, ars

4. harmful sorcery, black magic (post-Augustinian)

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	maleficium	maleficia
genitive	maleficiī maleficī1	maleficiōrum
dative	maleficiō	maleficiīs
accusative	maleficium	maleficia
ablative	maleficiō	maleficiīs
vocative	maleficium	maleficia

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Derived terms

• maleficiārius

Descendants

• Catalan: malefici
• French: maléfice
• Galician: maleficio
• Italian: maleficio
• Portuguese: maleficio
• Spanish: maleficio

References

• “maleficium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “maleficium”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "maleficium", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “maleficium”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to return evil for good: benefacta maleficiis pensare
    
  • to return good for evil: maleficia benefactis remunerari
    
  • to return good for evil: pro maleficiis beneficia reddere
    
  • his guilty conscience gives him no rest: conscientiae maleficiorum stimulant aliquem