malfusso

Italian

FWOTD – 24 October 2020

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish marfuz (“traitor, treacher”), from Arabic مَرْفُوض (marfūḍ), past participle of رَفَضَ (rafaḍa, “to refuse, deny”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /malˈfus.so/
• Rhymes: -usso
• Hyphenation: mal‧fùs‧so

Adjective

malfusso (feminine malfussa, masculine plural malfussi, feminine plural malfusse)

1. (archaic) wretched

   Synonym: sciagurato

   • 1478, Luigi Pulci, “Canto decimoquarto [Fourteenth Canto]”, in Morgante‎^[1], Felice Le Monnier, published 1855, page 283:

     Non pensi tu che in ciel sia più giustizia,
     malfusso, ladro, strupatore e mecco,
     fornicator, uom pien d’ogni malizia,
     ruffian, briccone, e sacrilego e becco?

     You don't think there's any more justice in heaven, do you, you wretch, thief, rapist and adulterer, fornicator, man full of malice, pander, scoundrel, sacrileger and cuckold?

Further reading

• malfusso in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
• malfusso in Dizionario Italiano Olivetti, Olivetti Media Communication