Back on November 27 and 28 we noted that there are two separate but similar-appearing roots: mel-/mell-/melis- = honey and melos = song. We also talked about the word mellifluous, meaning "pleasing to the ear".

Which root does mellifluous come from? Granted that the fluous part means "flowing", does the rest come from "honey" or from "song"? That is, does it literally mean "flowing like honey" or "flowing like song"?

The standard etymology sources (AHD; Websters; etym-on-line) agree that the root here is "honey".

But on what basis do they conclude this? I'm suspicious. Since mellifluous describes sounds, it would seem far more likely to be based on "song" rather than "honey".

[This message was edited by wordnerd on Sun Jan 25th, 2004 at 19:52.]

The Greek 'song' root has only one /l/ (mell- means 'intend'), whereas the Latin 'honey' root has two /l/'s (reduced to one in final position in the nom.sg.). So melli- can only mean 'honey-' in compounds.

I agree with aput. Mellifluous means "honeyed" "smooth", and so on. "Song" has no connection.