Malkiel was born in Kyiv to a Russian-Jewish family, and was brought up and educated in Berlin, after the Russian Civil War.
In 1943, he was offered an initially temporary position at the University of California, Berkeley, which later was converted to a permanent professorship; Malkiel remained there until his retirement in 1983, teaching in the departments of Spanish and (later) Linguistics.
[citation needed] During a period when etymology was receding from prominence in linguistics, Malkiel was both one of its chief champions and most rigorous theorists.
[2] A major secondary interest was in the history of his field, explored in the pages of Romance Philology and in his last book, Etymology.
[3] His work in all fields was characterized by a doggedly comprehensive use of evidence; of his book, Development of the Latin Suffixes -antia and -entia in Romance Languages, influential linguist Leo Spitzer said in a review, "No one can fail to be impressed by this outstanding example of akribia and scholarly devotion to a task that might have daunted others.