μέλος

Forms

μέλος (mélos) n (genitive μέλους or μέλεος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It looks like an old neuter s-stem, like γένος (génos, “race”) and ἔπος (épos, “word”), but it has no clear cognate outside Greek.^[2][3] It may come from a root Proto-Indo-European *mel- (“limb”), and may be compared with Celtic words for a joint, Breton mell, Cornish mal and Welsh cymmal, from Proto-Celtic *melsā (“knuckle”).^[2][3][1] Chantraine finds Szemerényi's link with μέλλω (méllō) unlikely.^[3]

For the double meaning “limb” and “song”, Beekes compares Irish alt (“joint; poem”).^[2] Ancient writers derived it from μέρος (méros, “part”) or μέλω (mélō, “to be a care”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it occurs only in the plural, meaning the limbs of the body.^[2][5] The first instance in the GLAUx corpus is in book 7 of the Iliad.^[6]

Semantic evolution

From the parts of the body it passed to the parts of a tune, a musical phrase, and so to a song or melody, first in the Homeric Hymns and Theognis.^[7][2] In Pindar, Herodotus and Plato it was the word for lyric poetry as opposed to epic and drama.^[7][5] Plato defines it as made of words, harmony and rhythm, and uses phrases for being “in tune” or “out of tune”.^[7][5] In the sense “limb”, it was replaced by κῶλον (kôlon) and ἄρθρον (árthron).^[2]

Paul uses it for the members of one body, and so of Christians as members of Christ's body.^[8][7] It was borrowed as Latin melos (“song, tune”).^[9] It survives as the learned Modern Greek μέλος (mélos), in which the sense “member” of a group or organisation followed French membre.^[10]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses the plural for the limbs.^[2][5][6]
• 6th century BC – Theognis uses it for a song.^[7][11]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it for lyric poetry.^[7][5][11]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato contrasts lyric poetry with epic and drama.^[7][11]
• 1st century AD – Paul calls Christians members of one body.^[8]
• Modern Greek – It survives as Modern Greek μέλος (mélos), “member” and “melody”.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. (plural) The limbs of a body; later also in the singular, a limb.^[5][7]
2. A melody, tune; music in general.^[5][7]
3. A song, especially a lyric poem; in the plural, lyric poetry.^[5][7]
4. A sound or cry.^[5]
5. (New Testament) A member of a community, imagined as a body.^[8]

Word family

• ἀμελής (amelḗs)
• μελῳδία (melōidíā)
• μελῳδός (melōidós)
• μελίζω (melízō)
• μελικός (melikós)
• μελοποιός (melopoiós)
• λυσιμελής (lusimelḗs)

Related words

• Latin melos

Usage notes

The phrases ἐν μέλει “in tune” and παρὰ μέλος “out of tune” meant properly and improperly.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 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. ^ 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 i j 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 e f g h i j Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
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. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge