Etymologically
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melimelum

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [mɛ.lɪˈmeː.ɫũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [me.liˈmɛː.lum][1]

Forms

melimēlum n (genitive melimēlī); second declension[1] Usually found in the plural melimēla; the Greek form melimēlon also occurs.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek μελίμηλον (melímēlon, “honey apple”),[1][5][6][7] from μέλι (méli, “honey”) and μῆλον (mêlon, “apple”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Varro is the first to use it: apples once called mustea are now called melimela, he says.[6][7]

Semantic evolution

Horace advises picking the reddish melimela under a waning moon,[6] Columella and Martial mention them,[6] and Pliny the Elder says they are named from their honey taste.[6] Martial puns on the literal meaning “honey apples” when quinces soaked in honey are served.[6] Caelius Aurelianus uses melimelon for a wine made from pomegranates.[2]

In medieval Britain it named a sweet apple, a sweeting, and in the form malomellus the tree that bears it.[8] Through Portuguese marmelo “quince” and its derivative marmelada it is the source of English marmalade.[9][7]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro says the apples once called mustea are now called melimela.[6][7]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace mentions them in the Satires.[6][7]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder explains the name from their honey taste.[6][7]
  • 5th century AD – Caelius Aurelianus uses melimelon for a pomegranate wine.[2][7]
  • c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville describes the sweet apple.[2][3][7]
  • 1530s – English marmalade, ultimately from this word, is first recorded.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A sweet kind of apple, the honey apple (usually plural).[6][2][1]
  2. (form melimelon) A wine made from pomegranates.[2]
  3. (Medieval Latin) A sweeting; the tree that bears it.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  3. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  8. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com