meli

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek μέλι (méli). Coined by missionaries for the 1839 translation of the Bible. The missionaries had considered transcribing honey into Hawaiian as either hani (“flirt, act coy”) or as honi (“kiss”). The two were considered unacceptable as being too impure and as such the missionaries went to Ancient Greek to coin a word.

• IPA^(key): /ˈme.li/, [ˈmɛ.li]

meli

1. honey
   • 1839 Ka Baibala: Lunakanawai 14:8 (tr. Authorized Version of the Bible, Judges 14:8):

     A mahope iho hoi mai la ia e lawe ia ia, kipa ae la ia e nana i ke kino o ka liona, aia hoi, he poe nalomeli, a me ka meli pu maloko o ke kino o ua liona la.

     And after a time he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcase of the lion: and, behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion.

2. bee

   Synonym: nalo meli

From N- +‎ beli

• IPA^(key): /məli/
• Rhymes: -i
• Hyphenation: me‧li

meli

1. (active voice) to buy

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛ.li/
• Rhymes: -ɛli
• Hyphenation: mè‧li

meli m

1. plural of melo

• elmi, lime

mēlī

1. dative singular of mēlēs

See melis.

meli m

1. vocative/accusative/instrumental singular of melis

See mele.

meli f

1. accusative/instrumental singular of mele

Nominal derived from an old (unattested) verb *melt, from Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- (“to grind, to crush, to pound”). The semantic evolution was probably: “something ground, crushed (to small pieces)” > “(unimportant) blabber, gossip” (a meaning attested for the verb malt in some contexts; compare also Russian молоть (molotʹ, “to grind; to babble, to gossip”)) > “lie, untruth.” Cognates include Lithuanian melúoti (“to lie, to gossip”), mẽlas, dialectal mãlas, Russian мел (mel, “chalk”), мелкий (melkij, “fine, small, petty”), German Mehl (“flour”), Middle Irish mell (“error, delusion”), Ancient Greek μέλεος (méleos, “futile, superfluous, useless”), Tocharian A smale (“lie, untruth”).^[1]

meli m (1st declension)

1. lie, falsehood, untruth

   nevainīgi meli ― an innocent lie, a fib

   skaidri meli ― a clear, obvious lie

   balti, salti meli ― an outrageous (lit. white, frosty) lie

   izgudrot, stāstīt melus ― to invent, to tell lies

   atklāt melus ― to detect, to reveal a lie

• melīgs, melīgums

• melis, mele
• melot

meli (Raguileo spelling)

1. four

Borrowed from English mail.

meli

1. mail

Ultimately from Latin mel, perhaps via Spanish miel.

meli

1. honey

meli (Cyrillic spelling мели)

1. masculine plural active past participle of mesti

• mieli, mjeli (diphthongized)

From Vulgar Latin *melem m or f, from Latin mel n.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛli/
• Hyphenation: mè‧li

meli m

1. honey

• AIS: Sprach- und Sachatlas Italiens und der Südschweiz [Linguistic and Ethnographic Atlas of Italy and Southern Switzerland] – map 1159: “il miele” – on navigais-web.pd.istc.cnr.it

Borrowed from Omani Arabic ميل (mēl), from English mail, in reference to the steamers that brought mail.

• Audio (Kenya):

  (file)

meli class IX (plural meli class X)

1. ship
2. cargo

Compare Tocharian A malañ.

meli

1. (plural only) nose