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Origin and history of *mele-

*mele-

*melə-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to crush, grind," with derivatives referring to ground or crumbling substances and crushing or grinding instruments.

It might form all or part of: amyl; amyloid; blintz; emmer; emolument; immolate; maelstrom; mall; malleable; malleolus; mallet; malleus; maul; meal (n.2) "edible ground grain;" mill (n.1) "building fitted to grind grain;" millet; mola; molar (n.); mold (n.3) "loose earth;" molder; ormolu; pall-mall.

It might also be the source of: Hittite mallanzi "they grind;" Armenian malem "I crush, bruise;" Greek mylos "millstone," myle "mill;" Latin molere "to grind," mola "millstone, mill," milium "millet;" Old English melu "meal, flour;" Albanian miel "meal, flour;" Old Church Slavonic meljo, Lithuanian malu, malti "to grind;" Old Church Slavonic mlatu, Russian molotu "hammer."

Entries linking to *mele-

amyl(n.)

hydrocarbon radical, 1850 (amyle), from Latin amylum "starch," from Greek amylon "fine meal, starch," noun use of neuter of adjective amylos "not ground at the mill," that is, "ground by hand," from a- "not" (see a- (3)) + myle "mill" (from PIE root *mele- "to crush, grind"). So called because it was first obtained from the distilled spirits of potato or grain starch (though it also is obtained from other sources). In 16c. English amyl meant "starch, fine flour."

amyloid(adj.)

"starch-like," 1843, coined in German (1839) from Latin amylum (see amyl) + Greek-derived suffix -oid. The noun is attested from 1872.

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emolument
mid-15c., "the profit arising from office or employment, that which is given as compensation for services," from Old French émolument "advantage, gain, benefit; income, revenue" (13c.) and directly from Latin emolumentum "profit, gain, advantage, benefit," perhaps originally "pay
immolate
1540s, "to sacrifice, kill as a victim," from Latin immolatus, past participle of immolare "to sacrifice," originally "to sprinkle with sacrificial meal," from assimilated form of in- "into, in, on, upon" (from PIE root *en "in") + mola (salsa) "(sacrificial) meal," related to mo
maelstrom
1680s (Hakluyt, 1560s, has Malestrand), name of a famous tidal whirlpool off the northwest coast of Norway, supposed to suck in and destroy everything that approached it at all times (in fact it is not dangerous except under certain conditions), from Danish malstrøm (1673), from
eve
c. 1200, eve "evening," especially the time between sunset and darkness, from Old English æfen, with loss of terminal -n (which, though forming part of the stem, perhaps was mistaken for an inflection), from Proto-Germanic *æbando- (source also of Old Saxon aband, Old Frisian ewn
aesthetic
1798, from German Ästhetisch (mid-18c.) or French esthétique (which is from German), ultimately from Greek aisthetikos "of or for perception by the senses, perceptive," of things, "perceptible," from aisthanesthai "to perceive (by the senses or by the mind), to feel," from PIE *a
facility
early 15c., "gentleness, lightness," from Old French facilité "easiness, ease," from Latin facilitatem (nominative facilitas) "easiness, ease, fluency, willingness," from facilis "easy to do," from facere "to do" (from PIE root *dhe- "to set, put"). First in a medical book: If i
mature
c. 1400, maturen, "encourage suppuration;" mid-15c., of plants, "cause to ripen, bring to maturity," from Latin mātūrare "to ripen, bring to maturity," from mātūrus "ripe, timely, early," related to māne "early, of the morning," from PIE *meh-tu- "ripeness." De Vaan writes that "
panegyric
"eulogy, laudation, praise bestowed upon some person, action, or character," c. 1600, from French panégyrique (1510s), from Latin panegyricus "public eulogy," originally an adjective, "for a public festival," from Greek panēgyrikos (logos) "(a speech) given in or addressed to a p
wonder
Old English wundor "marvelous thing, miracle, object of astonishment," from Proto-Germanic *wundran (source also of Old Saxon wundar, Middle Dutch, Dutch wonder, Old High German wuntar, German wunder, Old Norse undr), of unknown origin. In Middle English it also came to mean the
aberration
1590s, "a wandering, act of straying," from Latin aberrationem (nominative aberratio) "a wandering," noun of action from past-participle stem of aberrare "to wander out of the way, lose the way, go astray," literally and figuratively, from ab "off, away from" (see ab-) + errare "

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