μέλαθρον

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

μελάθρα (meláthra)

Etymology

Explained by the ancients as deriving from μέλας (mélas, “black”), because of the soot which accumulates on the ceiling. The comparison with βλωθρός (blōthrós, “high”), proposed by Frisk, fails because the latter would presuppose a root *mlh₃-, which can never yield μέλα-. Connection with κμέλεθρον (kmélethron, “beam”) was tentatively considered by Güntert and Pisani, because of the remarkable formal and semantic similarity. According to Beekes, this proves that the word is Pre-Greek.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

μέλᾰθρον • (mélăthron) n (genitive μελᾰ́θρου); second declension

roofbeam, ridgepole, vault of the roof
(in general) house, dwelling
lair of an animal

Inflection

Second declension of τὸ μέλᾰθρον; τοῦ μελᾰ́θρου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	τὸ μέλᾰθρον tò mélăthron	τὼ μελᾰ́θρω tṑ melắthrō	τᾰ̀ μέλᾰθρᾰ tằ mélăthră
Genitive	τοῦ μελᾰ́θρου toû melắthrou	τοῖν μελᾰ́θροιν toîn melắthroin	τῶν μελᾰ́θρων tôn melắthrōn
Dative	τῷ μελᾰ́θρῳ tōî melắthrōi	τοῖν μελᾰ́θροιν toîn melắthroin	τοῖς μελᾰ́θροις toîs melắthrois
Accusative	τὸ μέλᾰθρον tò mélăthron	τὼ μελᾰ́θρω tṑ melắthrō	τᾰ̀ μέλᾰθρᾰ tằ mélăthră
Vocative	μέλᾰθρον mélăthron	μελᾰ́θρω melắthrō	μέλᾰθρᾰ mélăthră
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

μελαθρόω (melathróō)
ὀλβομέλαθρος (olbomélathros)
ὑψιμέλαθρος (hupsimélathros)