meli

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek μέλι (méli), from Proto-Indo-European *mélid. 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.

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

• (bee): nalo meli

meli m

1. plural of melo

• elmi, lime

mēli

1. dative singular of meles

See melis.

meli m

1. vocative singular form of melis
2. accusative singular form of melis
3. instrumental singular form of melis

See mele.

meli f

1. accusative singular form of mele
2. instrumental singular form of mele

Nominal derived from an old (unattested) verb *melt, from Proto-Indo-European *mel- (“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 (using Raguileo Alphabet)

1. four

Borrowed from English mail.

meli

1. mail

From Latin mel (“honey”).

meli

1. honey

From Latin mel, melle.

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

meli m

1. honey

meli (n class, plural meli)

1. ship
2. cargo

Compare Tocharian A malañ.

meli

1. (plural only) nose