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μέλλω

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Etymology and origin of the Ancient Greek word μέλλω

Confidence
Disputed
First attested
Homer, Iliad

Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /mél.lɔː/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /ˈmel.lo/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /ˈmel.lo/[1]

Forms

μέλλω (méllō) [1]

Etymology

The origin is unclear.[2][3][1] The present μέλλω probably comes from *μελ-ι̯ω (*mélyō), with a full-grade root, and the other tenses and the nouns were made from it later.[2][3] It is traditionally compared with Latin prōmellō (“to postpone a lawsuit”) and Old Irish mall (“slow”), from a root Proto-Indo-European *mel- (“to linger, hesitate”).[2][1] Chantraine objects that this does not fit the sense of intention, which seems to be the original one.[3] Gray derived it instead from an unattested noun *μέλος (*mélos, “concern”), related to μέλω (mélō, “to be a concern”), and Szemerényi from the root of μολεῖν (moleîn, “to go”), which Chantraine finds attractive.[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it already means “to be destined or likely to”, and “to be about to, intend to”, with an infinitive.[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

In Homer, Hesiod, lyric and tragedy only the present and imperfect are used; the aorist appears in prose.[4] With the future infinitive it marks what is about to happen, and with the present infinitive what is likely; from tragedy and Aristophanes on it also means “to delay, hesitate”.[5][4] The participle gave τὸ μέλλον (tò méllon, “the future”).[5][7]

In the Koine of the New Testament, where the future infinitive was going out of use, μέλλω with the present infinitive came to replace the future.[8] Medieval Greek kept the impersonal third person, which survives.[9] Modern Greek μέλλον (méllon), “the future”, is a learned form taken from the ancient participle.[7][10]

Timeline

  • Homer – The Iliad uses it of what is destined or about to happen.[4][6]
  • 5th century BC – Thucydides has the aorist ἐμέλλησα, and tragedy uses it for “to delay”.[4][5][11]
  • 1st century AD – The New Testament often uses it with a present infinitive in place of the future.[8]
  • Modern Greek – The learned Modern Greek μέλλον (méllon) means the future.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To be destined, likely or bound to be or do something; impersonally, it is likely.[4][5]
  2. To be about to, to be going to, to intend to do something.[5][8]
  3. To delay, put off, hesitate.[5][4]
  4. (participle) Future, to come; τὸ μέλλον, the future.[5][7]

Word family

  • ἀντιμέλλω (antiméllō)
  • διαμέλλω (diaméllō)
  • καταμέλλω (kataméllō)
  • μελλείρην (melleírēn)
  • μέλλησις (méllēsis)
  • μελλητέον (mellētéon)
  • μελλητής (mellētḗs)
  • μελλόγαμος (mellógamos)
  • μελλόνυμφος (mellónumphos)
  • μελλώ (mellṓ)
  • μέλλων (méllōn)
  • μελλέφηβος (melléphēbos)
  • μεμελλημένως (memellēménōs)
  • μέλω (mélō)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d 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
  3. ^ a b c d 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
  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 c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  6. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  7. ^ a b c d Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
  8. ^ a b c Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
  9. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
  10. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
  11. ^ Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
Cite this entry

“Μέλλω.” Etymologically, 25 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/grc/%CE%BC%CE%AD%CE%BB%CE%BB%CF%89. Accessed 25 Oct. 2026.

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