μηλοπέπων

Forms

μηλοπέπων (mēlopépōn) m (genitive μηλοπέπονος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a compound from Ancient Greek μῆλον (mêlon, “apple, tree fruit”) + πέπων (pépōn, “ripe; a kind of melon”), an “apple-melon”.^[1][2][3] Etymonline explains πέπων (pépōn) as a gourd name that is probably a noun use of the adjective “ripe”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Galen, of a kind of melon.^[5][2][6]

Semantic evolution

Pape describes it as an apple-shaped melon, eaten only when fully ripe.^[7][3] After Galen the physician Antyllus, quoted by Oribasius, also uses it.^[5]

The word spread widely: it was borrowed into Coptic, with a first record about AD 600,^[8] into Aramaic and Hebrew, Old Armenian and Old Georgian,^[1] and into Latin mēlopepō.^[1][4] Late Latin shortened it to mēlō, the source of Old French melon and of the English melon, recorded from the late 14th century.^[4][1]

Timeline

• 2nd century AD – Galen uses it for a kind of melon.^[5][2][6]
• 2nd century AD – Antyllus uses it, as quoted by Oribasius.^[5]
• About AD 600 – A Coptic manuscript has the first record of the borrowed word.^[8]
• Late 14th century – English has the descendant melon, through Old French and Medieval Latin.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A melon (Cucumis melo), an apple-shaped kind eaten when fully ripe.^[5][7][3]

Related words

• μῆλον (mêlon)
• πέπων (pépōn)
• Latin mēlopepō
• English melon

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
3. ^ a b c Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
8. ^ a b Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig