μέλος

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Likely from a Proto-Indo-European *mel- (“limb”); compare Breton mell (“joint”), Cornish mal (“id”), Welsh cymmal (“id”), which are from Proto-Celtic *melsā (“knuckle”). For a semantic parallel (albeit from a different root), note Irish alt (“joint; paragraph”). See also μέρος (méros, “part, share”), of similar meaning and superficial pronunciation but different origin.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /mé.los/ → /ˈme.los/ → /ˈme.los/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /mé.los/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈme.los/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈme.los/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈme.los/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈme.los/

Noun

μέλος • (mélos) n (genitive μέλους or μέλεος); third declension

1. part of a body, limb, member, part

   Synonyms: κῶλον (kôlon), ῥέθος (rhéthos)

2. part of a group, member
3. song, strain
4. tune
5. melody

Inflection

Third declension of τὸ μέλος; τοῦ μέλους (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ μέλος tò mélos	τὼ μέλει tṑ mélei	τᾰ̀ μέλη tà mélē
Genitive	τοῦ μέλους toû mélous	τοῖν μελοῖν toîn meloîn	τῶν μελῶν tôn melôn
Dative	τῷ μέλει tôi mélei	τοῖν μελοῖν toîn meloîn	τοῖς μέλεσῐ / μέλεσῐν toîs mélesi(n)
Accusative	τὸ μέλος tò mélos	τὼ μέλει tṑ mélei	τᾰ̀ μέλη tà mélē
Vocative	μέλος mélos	μέλει mélei	μέλη mélē
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Third declension of μέλος; μέλεος (Epic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	μέλος mélos	μέλει / μέλεε mélei / mélee	μέλεᾰ mélea
Genitive	μέλεος / μέλευς méleos / méleus	μελέοιν meléoin	μελέων meléōn
Dative	μέλει / μέλεῐ̈ mélei / méleï	μελέοιν meléoin	μέλεσῐ / μέλεσῐν mélesi(n)
Accusative	μέλος mélos	μέλει / μέλεε mélei / mélee	μέλεᾰ mélea
Vocative	μέλος mélos	μέλει / μέλεε mélei / mélee	μέλεᾰ mélea
Notes:	Dialects other than Attic are not well attested. Some forms may be based on conjecture. Use with caution.

Third declension of τὸ μέλος; τοῦ μέλεος (Ionic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ μέλος tò mélos	τὼ μέλει / μέλεε tṑ mélei / mélee	τᾰ̀ μέλεᾰ tà mélea
Genitive	τοῦ μέλεος / μέλευς toû méleos / méleus	τοῖν μελέοιν toîn meléoin	τῶν μελέων tôn meléōn
Dative	τῷ μέλει / μέλεῐ̈ tôi mélei / méleï	τοῖν μελέοιν toîn meléoin	τοῖσῐ / τοῖσῐν μέλεσῐ / μέλεσῐν toîsi(n) mélesi(n)
Accusative	τὸ μέλος tò mélos	τὼ μέλει / μέλεε tṑ mélei / mélee	τᾰ̀ μέλεᾰ tà mélea
Vocative	μέλος mélos	μέλει / μέλεε mélei / mélee	μέλεᾰ mélea
Notes:	Dialects other than Attic are not well attested. Some forms may be based on conjecture. Use with caution.

Derived terms

• ᾰ̓μελής (amelḗs)
• μελῳδός (melōidós)
  • μελῳδία (melōidía)

Descendants

• Greek: μέλος (mélos)

Further reading

• “μέλος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “μέλος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “μέλος”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• μέλος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Bauer, Walter et al. (2001) A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
• μέλος in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “μέλος”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G3196 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • accompaniment idem, page 6.
  • air idem, page 21.
  • carol idem, page 114.
  • chant idem, page 124.
  • lay idem, page 480.
  • lilt idem, page 492.
  • lyric poetry idem, page 506.
  • melody idem, page 524.
  • music idem, page 547.
  • ode idem, page 569.
  • song idem, page 793.
  • strain idem, page 822.
  • tune idem, page 900.
• Roberts, Edward A. (2014) A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Spanish Language with Families of Words based on Indo-European Roots, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN

Greek

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μέλος (mélos).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈme.los/

Noun

μέλος • (mélos) n (plural μέλη)

1. member (of organisation, group, etc)
2. (anatomy) limb, body member

Declension

Declension of μέλος

	singular	plural
nominative	μέλος •	μέλη •
genitive	μέλους •	μελών •
accusative	μέλος •	μέλη •
vocative	μέλος •	μέλη •

Related terms

• αρτιμελής (artimelís, “able-bodied”, adjective)