μέλας

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /mé.laːs/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈme.las/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈme.las/^[1]

Forms

μέλᾱς (mélās) m (feminine μέλαινᾰ, neuter μέλᾰν); first/third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *mélans, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *mélh₂ns, from the root *melh₂- (“dark, black”).^[1] The nominative μέλᾱς is from *μέλανς (*mélans), and the feminine μέλαινα (mélaina) from *μέλανyα (*mélanya), like τάλας (tálās), τάλαινα (tálaina);^[2] Aeolic has μέλαις (mélais).^[2][3][4]

Its closest relatives are Baltic: Latvian melns (“black”), Old Prussian melne (“blue bruise”) and Lithuanian mėlynas (“blue”).^[5][1] It is generally compared with Sanskrit मल (mála, “dirt”), मलिन (malina, “dirty”), but Frisk rejected the older idea that μέλας replaced an earlier *μέλανος (*mélanos) equal to the Sanskrit adjective, since that adjective is a later derivative of the noun for “dirt”.^[5][6][1]

The ancient grammarian Orion derived it from “not seeing”.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses it for things dark in colour: dark wine, black blood, the dark wave, the black earth, the dark water of a river, and the black ships, so called from their pitch.^[4] It appears from the first book of the Iliad (1.141).^[8]

Semantic evolution

Classical Greek used it for black rock, ash, iron, smoke and grapes, and Plato, Theophrastus and Menander for black bile.^[9] Of people it meant dark-skinned, swarthy, as in Plato and Demosthenes.^[4] It also had the figurative senses evil and obscure.^[1]

It is very common as the first part of compounds, such as μελάγχροος (melánkhroos) “dark-skinned”.^[3] Modern Greek uses μέλας only as a learned word, in phrases such as the Spartan “black broth” and in place names (the Black Forest), the everyday word being μαύρος.^[10] English melano- comes from its combining form.^[11]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it for black ships, blood and earth.^[4][8]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus and Aristophanes use it for dark plants and fruits.^[9][12]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for black as a colour and for black bile.^[9][12]
• 4th century BC – Demosthenes uses it for a swarthy man.^[4][12]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it six times.^[6]
• Modern Greek – μέλας survives as a learned word.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Black, dark in colour.^[4][9]
2. Of people: dark-skinned, swarthy.^[4][1]
3. Of hair or eyes: dark, black.^[1]
4. (figurative) Evil; dark, obscure.^[1]

Noun

1. (neuter) Black colour; a black pigment.^[9]

Word family

• ἀμφιμέλας (amphimélas)
• μελάγγαιος (melángaios)
• μελαγκευθής (melankeuthḗs)
• μελαγκόρυφος (melankóruphos)
• μελάγκουρος (melánkouros)
• μελάγκροκος (melánkrokos)
• μελαγχαίτης (melankhaítēs)
• μελάγχιμος (melánkhimos)
• μελαγχίτων (melankhítōn)
• μελάγχλαινος (melánkhlainos)
• μελαγχολάω (melankholáō)
• μελαίνω (melaínō)
• μελαμβαθής (melambathḗs)
• μελάμβροτος (melámbrotos)

Related words

• μέλαν (mélan)
• English melano-

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
3. ^ a b Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f g Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
6. ^ a b Heggarty, Paul, et al. (2023), Indo-European Cognate Relationships (IE-CoR), Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, https://iecor.clld.org
7. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
8. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
9. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge