Etymology Dictionary

MALAPERT,  saucy, impudent, ill-behaved.  (F.,—L.)   The true sense is 'ill-skilled,' 'ill-bred.'   In The Court of Love, 737 (about A.D. 1500).   O.F. mal apert.—O.F. mal = Lat. male, adv. badly, ill; and apert (also ill-spelt appert), 'apparent (sic), open, evident, plain, manifest; also expert, ready, dexter, prompt, active, nimble; feat, handsome in that he does;' Cot.   β. The O.F. apert, open, acquired the sense of 'skilful' or 'well-behaved;' see Littré, s.v. apertement, where he cites from Joinville:  'Mal apertement se partirent les Turs de Damiete' = the Turks departed from Damietta in a very unskilful way.   Compare also the following:  'Gardes vos, dames, tot acertes Qu'au mangier soies molt apertes' = take care, ladies, for a certainty, that ye be very well-bred at meal-time; Bartsch, Chrestomathie, col. 279, l. 5.   γ. Hence the O.F. apert is simply derived from Lat. apertus, open, pp. of aperire, to open; see Aperient.   Der. malapert-ly, malapert-ness.