Etymologically
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μέλας

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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)
  • 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