1631 i-Maculate

Recently I heard a guy on the radio say "e-maculate" and really stressed the E. My first thought was it was some sort of new product from Apple or whoever. Some kind of app that keeps your software clean.
Or maybe one of those little handi-wipe swiffer-like things for the faceplate of your phone. Where your face and your fingerprints and the greasy ejecta of a dirty world coagulate on the screen so thick it's hard to read your icons.
E-maculate will get it clean.
But no, he was just pronouncing immaculate wrong. Still, it did get me thinking. You hear about immaculate as in conception and immaculate as in clean, what gives?
Is there an opposite word, maculate, that means dirty?
The answer is yes. Kind of.
Maculate actually means spotted. That’s why immaculate means spotless or flawless. If you have a sunspot on your skin, it's called a macula. Which is the original Latin root of the word, and means, simply, spot or stain. That’s also why macular degeneration leads to spotted and eventually blotted-out vision.
Interestingly, the word "mackle" has similar origins. Yes mackle. I never heard of it either before this research tangent started. Sounds like something Cape Cod Fishermen wear in bad weather doesn't it?
"There's a big nor'easter blowing Jonathan, be sure to strap on your mackle."
But no, a mackle is a screw-up in printing when a wrinkle in the paper or a laser deja vu causes a doubled or blurred impression.
Finally, guess what? Maculation was also a Middle English word, since retired, which had the meaning of being sexually soiled or defiled.
So immaculate as in conception and immaculate as in your clean countertop or iPhone screen are actually pretty close.
I'm glad I spotted the connection.
America, ya gotta love it.