mali

Etymology 1

seedlings from nursery beds into polybags at the Aravali Biodiversity Park, Gurgaon, Haryana, India.]] Borrowed from Hindi माली (mālī, “gardener”), from Sanskrit माली (mālī, “wreath-maker, garland-maker; florist; gardener”), मालिन् (mālin, “florist; gardener”), from माला (mālā, “wreath, garland; chaplet, crown”).

noun

1. (India, South Asia) A member of a caste in South Asia whose traditional occupation is gardening; hence, any South Asian gardener.
   [H]ence the slow progress hitherto made in the cultivation of such produce of the garden as is generally held in estimation by the European portion of the community, left as it generally is, to the simple Hindoo mallee (or gardener,) it is not to be wondered at, that our bazars want what are deemed the more delicate articles of vegetable production for the table; […] 1840, G. T. Frederic Speede, Indian Hand-book of Gardening; Containing Directions for the Management of the Kitchen and Flower Garden, etc. etc. in India:[…], Calcutta: W. Thacker & Co. St. Andrew's Library, →OCLC, page 1
   Prizes were awarded to ten other mallees for best samples of vegetables, fruits and flowers, and last though not least we have to note, that a prize of two rupees was awarded to the mallee of Robert Fulton, Esq., of Sultangunge, for a remarkably fine bunch of grapes, clearly showing that either the soil of Mr. Fulton's garden, the climate of Sultangunge, or the skill of that gentleman's gardener, are highly favorable to the growth, and bringing to maturity of this delicious fruit. 1848, “Report of Exhibitions of Vegetables, Fruits, Flowers and Agricultural Produce, Held at Bhaugulpore, on 11th February and 25th May, 1848. (Communicated by Major [T. E. A.] Napleton, Honorary Secretary Branch Agri-Horticultural Society.)”, in Journal of the Agricultural & Horticultural Society of India, volumes VI, part II (Correspondence and Selections), number 3, Calcutta: Bishop's College Press, →OCLC, page 125
   I sent down dhobies, sweepers, cooks, and mallees, last to dig trenches for burying the dead, when burning was not possible. 29 November 1871, “Cachar: Further Correspondence on the Subject of the Looshai Raids and the Consequent Hostilities (in Continuation of Paper, No. 398, of 1871)”, in Accounts and Papers:[…], volumes X (East India—continued), [London]: […] The House of Commons,[…], published 28 May 1872, →OCLC, page 301
   The grounds of the estates were extensive enough to provide each mansion with a surrounding park, and these were, if anything, even more varied in design than the houses they enclosed – for the malis who tended the gardens, no less than the owners themselves, vied to outdo each other in the fancifulness of their plantings, creating here a little patch of topiary and there an avenue of trees, trimmed in the French fashion; […] 2008, Amitav Ghosh, chapter 5, in Sea of Poppies, London: John Murray, pages 91–92

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Xhosa imali, Zulu imali (“money”), both ultimately from Swahili mali (“riches, wealth; property”), from Arabic مَال (māl, “money; affluence, wealth; possessions, property”). Some dictionaries suggest an origin in English money instead, making no attempt to account for the distribution of the loanword nor the proposed shift from /n/ to /l/, both of which make this unlikely.

noun

1. (South Africa) Money, cash.

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Latin malī, a plural form of malus (“adverse, unfavourable, unfortunate, unlucky; destructive, hurtful; bad, evil”) (probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mel- (“erroneous, false; bad, evil”)).

noun

1. plural of malus
   The existence of boni and mali for the different risks can be interpreted through the sign of estimated covariances. c. 1997, ASTIN Bulletin, page 48
   If the boni and mali do not depend on the frequency of claims, the average bonus-malus coefficient increases with the frequency. 2000, Jean Pinquet, “Experience Rating through Heterogeneous Models”, in Georges Dionne, editor, Handbook of Insurance, Kluwer Academic Publishers, page 462
   Akramkhanov et al. (2010) also suggested a system of boni and mali on taxes to support the implementation of measures to achieve both water saving and salinity control (Table 3.3.1). 2014, Akmal Akramkhanov, Bernhard Tischbein, Usman Khalid Awan, “Effective management of soil salinity – revising leaching norms”, in John P. A. Lamers, Asia Khamzina, Inna Rudenko, Paul L. G. Vlek, editors, Restructuring Land Allocation, Water Use and Agricultural Value Chains: Technologies, Policies and Practices for the Lower Amudarya Region, V & R unipress, Bonn University Press, page 131