melos Latin · revision 36989

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 235–200 BC, Naevius|origins=grc μέλος}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''melos''' ''n'' (genitive meleos)^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)

+ Also neuter ''melum'', genitive ''melī'', and masculine ''melus'', genitive ''melī''.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)

+ Cato, Pacuvius, Varro and Accius use masculine forms (''quosdam melos'', ''acres melos'').^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+ Lucretius has the Greek plural ''melē'', and Terentianus Maurus a genitive plural ''melōrum''.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|μέλος|tr=mélos|t=song; limb]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010) Köbler traces it further to [[ine-pro|*mel-|t=limb; to join]].^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in Naevius, quoted by Nonius: ''suave summum melos'', “the sweetest song”.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It belongs to early Latin and to poetry.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Accius has the song of Silvanus,^(Lewis & Short 1879) Horace a long song,^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010) and Persius, in his prologue, the “Pegasean song”.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Augustine writes of “every melody of sweet songs” (''melos omne cantilenarum suavium'').^(Georges 1913) In Ecclesiastical and medieval Latin it is a hymn or song.^(Stelten 1995)^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it.^(Conte 2010)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses the Greek plural ''melē''.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace uses it in the ''Odes''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it of the melody of songs.^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|song]], [[m|en|tune]] or strain.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(Ecclesiastical Latin)'' A [[m|en|hymn]], a melody.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[melicus]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Mēlos'', genitive ''Mēlī'' (feminine), is the Aegean island of [[m|en|Melos]],^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) with the adjectives ''Mēlius'' and ''Mēlinus''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) Italian calls it ''Milo''.^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}