maleficium

Latin

Etymology

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, dēlictum, flāgitium, malum, dēlinquentia, commissum

   Antonyms: bonum, rēctum, virtūs

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).

Case	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).

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’s 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