noun · neuterthird declension
mel
mel n (genitive mellis)
Classical[ˈmɛɫ]Ecclesiastical[ˈmɛl]
Mille Verba core vocabulary
Meaning
- neuterhoney
Heia, hoc est melle dulci dulcius.
Ah! This is sweeter than sweet honey.c. 189 BCE, Plautus, Truculentus 371 (ed. by Friedric Leo, Plauti Comoediae vol. 2, 1896, Berlin: Weidmann)colligit errantēs et in arbore claudit inānī Liber et inventī praemia mellis habet. Liber gathers the wandering [bees] and confines them in a hollow tree, and he has the rewards of discovering honey. (See Liber – the Greek Dionysus or Roman Bacchus – and The Discovery of Honey by Bacchus.)
8 CE, Ovidius, Fasti 3.743–744 - figurativelyneutersweetness, pleasantness
Sed nos veremur ne parum hic liber mellis et absinthii multum habere videatur
But I fear that this book will have too little sweetness and too much wormwood.c. 95 CE, Quintilianus, Institutio oratoria 3.1.5 - figurativelyneuterdarling, sweet, honey
cor meum, spes mea / mel meum, suavitudo, cibus, gaudium
My heart, my hope, my honey, sweetness, food, delight.c. 190 BCE, Plautus, Bacchides fragmenta.0.17–18
Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers
quod apēs faciunt; dulcissimum est.mel mellis n — in Mille Verba, Cibus et Convīvium
cibus dulcismel, mellis (n) — in Evangelium secundum Matthaeum, ch. 2
quod apēs faciunt, dulcemel mellis (n) — in Metamorphoses I, †
Declension
| form | singular | plural |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | mel | mella |
| genitive | mellis | mellium |
| dative | mellī | mellibus |
| accusative | mel | mella |
| ablative | melle mellī | mellibus |
| vocative | mel | mella |
Phrases from Meissner's Latin Phrase-Book
- mel ac deliciae alicuius (Fam. 8. 8. 1)
- somebody's darling.
mĕl, mellis (
I. abl. sing. melli, Plaut. Truc. 2, 4, 20.—Gen. and dat. plur. obsol. acc. to Prisc. p. 744 P.), n. Gr. μέλι, honey; μέλισσα, bee; cf. mulsus, honey.
I. Lit.:
hoc est melli dulci dulcius, Plaut. Truc. 2, 4, 20 (Spengel, dulce): villa abundat lacte, caseo, melle, Cic. Sen. 16, 56; cf. Plin. 11, 14, 14, § 33: roscida mella, Verg. E. 4, 30: mellis vindemia, Col. 9, 15, 1.— II. Trop., honey for sweetness, pleasantness:
poëtica mella, Hor. Ep. 1, 19, 44: hoc juvat et melli est, is pleasant, id. S. 2, 6, 32.—Of sweetness, pleasantness of speech: Nestoreum mel, Auct. Pan. ad Pison. 64: Homerici senis mella, Plin. Ep. 4, 3, 3.— Prov.: quia te tango, mel mihi videor lingere, it seems to me as sweet as honey, Plaut. Cas. 2, 8, 21: mella petere in medio flumine, of a vain search, Ov. A. A. 1, 748. —As a term of endearment, darling, sweet, honey: meum mel, meum cor, Plaut. Poen. 1, 2, 157; 173; id. Curc. 1, 3, 8; id. Trin. 2, 1, 18: Sempronium, mel ac delicias tuas, Cael. ap. Cic. Fam. 8, 8, 1.Charlton Lewis's shorter dictionary for students: the same scholarship in plain, modern definitions.
mel mellis, n
MAL-, honey : villa abundat caseo, melle: roscida mella, V.—Fig., honey, sweetness, pleasantness : poëtica mella, H.: Hoc iuvat et melli est, is pleasant , H.—Prov.: e medio flumine mella petat, i. e. where there is none , O.
Origins
From Proto-Italic *meli, from Proto-Indo-European *mel-it (“honey”), with the athematic suffix *-it that indicates comestible substances (compare Proto-Indo-European *h₂élbʰ-it (“barley”) or Proto-Indo-European *sép-it (“wheat”)). Cognate with Ancient Greek μέλι (méli), Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌻𐌹𐌸 (miliþ), Old Armenian մեղր (mełr), Hittite [script needed] (milit), Luwian [script needed] (mallit-).
Descendants
- Vulgar Latin*melem