μελο-ποιός

Grammatical information: n.

Meaning: `member', in older lit. only pl. `limbs' (Il.; cf. Wackernagel Syntax 1, 88), `(organized) tune, song, melody' (h. Hom. 19, 16, Thgn., Pi., IA.).

Compounds: Compp., e.g. λυσι-μελής `limb-relaxing' (Od.), also with allusion to the μελεδήματα υ 57; s. Risch Eumusia. Festschr. Howald (1947) 87 f.; μελο-ποιός `poet of songs' with - έω, - ία (Att.), μελεσί-πτερος `with singing wings', of a cicada (AP; after the types ἑλκεσί-πεπλος, Schwyzer 443 f.).

Derivatives: 1. Diminut.: μελύδριον `small song' (Ar., Theoc.), pl. - ια `poor limbs' (M. Ant.); μελίσκ(ι)ον `id.' (Alcm., Antiph.), s. Chantrame Form. 73 a. 406. 2. Adj. μελικός `lyric' (D. H., Plu.). 3. Adv. μεληδόν `part by part' (Poseidon.); on μελ(ε)ϊστί s. below. -- 4. Verbs: A. μελίζω 1. `analyse', also with δια-, ἐκ-, ἀπο- (Pherecyd. Hist., LXX). 2. `sing, sing of', also with δια-, ἀντι-(Pi., A., Theoc.). Further μελισμός ( δια-) `analysis' (Plu.), `song' (Str.), μέλισμα `song, melody' (Theoc., AP); μελικτάς (Theoc., Mosch.), - ιστής ( Anacreont.) `flute-player'; μελιστί `limb for limb' (J.), older form μελεϊστί (Hom.), prob. from *μελεΐζω, s. Bechtel Lex. s.v., Chantraine Gramm. hom. 1, 250, Risch 310; cf. Schwyzer 440 w. n. 10, 623. -- B. μελεάζω `execute a recitative' (Nicom. Harm.).

Origin: XX [etym. unknown]

Etymology: On the double meaning `member' and `tune, song' cf. Ir. alt `member' and `poem' (s. also Diehl RhM 89, 88 a. 92 f.). I the sense of `member' μέλος has been replaced by synonymous terms like κῶλον, ἄρθρον. -- To judge by the structure old (cf. ἕδος, ἔπος, γένος a. o.). μέλος does not have an immediate agreement. Possible is however (with Fick. 2, 215) the comparison with a Celtic wor for `knuckle', Bret. mell, Corn. mal, pl. mellow, to which also Welsh cym-mal `articulus, iunctura, commissura', which can go back on PCelt. * melsā and relates then to μέλος as e.g. Skt. vats-á- `calf' to Ϝέτος `year' (s. v.). A velar enlargement has been supposed in Toch. AB mälk- `piece together, join', also in Hitt. malk- `implicate, twist together (?)' (v. Windekens Lex. étym. s.v. and Kronasser Studies Whatmough 121). -- Diff., certainly not better, Szemerényi AmJPh 72, 346ff.: to μολεῖν, μέλλω etc. -- Skt. márman- n. `weak (deathly?) place of the body' and Balt., e.g. Lith. melmuõ `cross(?) of the body, backbone', pl. mélmenys `meat parts surrounding the kidneys', (Fick 1, 109 a. 2, 215), must be rejected; s. Porzig IF 42, 254f. and Fraenkel IF 59, 153ff (Wb. s. mélmenys). Very doubtful Koller, Glotta 43 (1965)24-38.

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