μελία

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

μελίη (melíē) – Epic

Etymology

Likely from Proto-Indo-European *mélit.

The old comparison with Lithuanian smelùs (“sand colored”) starts from the grey color of the wood. Perhaps the word is Pre-Greek, in view of the various forms in "-ινος".

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /me.lí.aː/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /meˈli.a/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /meˈli.a/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /meˈli.a/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /meˈli.a/

Noun

μελίᾱ • (melíā) f (genitive μελίᾱς); first declension

manna ash (Fraxinus ornus)
ashen spear

Inflection

First declension of ἡ μελίᾱ; τῆς μελίᾱς (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ἡ μελίᾱ hē melíā	τὼ μελίᾱ tṑ melíā	αἱ μελίαι hai melíai
Genitive	τῆς μελίᾱς tês melíās	τοῖν μελίαιν toîn melíain	τῶν μελιῶν tôn meliôn
Dative	τῇ μελίᾳ têi melíāi	τοῖν μελίαιν toîn melíain	ταῖς μελίαις taîs melíais
Accusative	τὴν μελίᾱν tḕn melíān	τὼ μελίᾱ tṑ melíā	τᾱ̀ς μελίᾱς tā̀s melíās
Vocative	μελίᾱ melíā	μελίᾱ melíā	μελίαι melíai
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

βουμελία (boumelía)
μέλινος (mélinos)

Descendants

Greek: μελιά (meliá)
→ Aramaic:
→? Jewish Palestinian Aramaic: מילה‎
→ Classical Syriac: ܡܗܠܝܐ‎
→ Hebrew: מֵילָה‎ (meilá)

References

“μελία”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“μελία”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
μελία in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN