μέλεος

Forms

μέλεος (méleos) m (feminine μελέᾱ, neuter μέλεον); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It has no established etymology.^[2][3] Its accent matches adjectives of material such as χρύσεος (khrúseos, “golden”), but its meaning puts it with primary adjectives such as ἐτεός (eteós, “true”) and κενεός (keneós, “empty”); like ἐτεός (eteós) from *ἐτεϝός (*etewós), it may come from *μέλεϝος (*mélewos).^[3][2][1] Beekes asks whether the accent is an Aeolic retraction.^[3]

Ancient grammarians such as Philoxenus derived it from a negative and a verb “to wish”: what nobody wants is vain.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it means idle, useless or vain: a vain effort or an unearned boast.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

Its neuter served in Homer as an adverb, “in vain”.^[5] After Homer it meant unhappy or wretched, first in an oracle quoted by Herodotus and then often in tragedy, of persons, sufferings and circumstances; comedy took it up in parodies of tragedy.^[5][6] Apollonius of Rhodes revived the Homeric sense “vain”.^[6]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for what is vain or useless.^[5][6]
• 5th century BC – An oracle quoted by Herodotus begins “O wretched ones”.^[5][6][7]
• 5th century BC – The tragedians use it often for “unhappy, miserable”.^[6][7]
• 3rd century BC – Apollonius of Rhodes uses it again for “vain”.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Idle, useless, vain, futile.^[5][6]
2. (neuter as adverb) In vain.^[5]
3. Unhappy, wretched, miserable, pitiful.^[6][5]

Word family

• μελεοπαθής (meleopathḗs)
• μελεόφρων (meleóphrōn)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
3. ^ a b c 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. ^ Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge