# meli
## Hawaiian
### Etymology

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.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈme.li/, [ˈmɛ.li]

### Noun

meli
* 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.
* bee
    Synonym: nalo meli

## Iban
### Etymology

m +‎ beli

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /meli/
* Rhymes: -li
* Hyphenation: me‧li

### Verb

meli
* to buy

## Italian
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈmɛ.li/
* Rhymes: -ɛli
* Hyphenation: mè‧li

### Noun

meli m
* plural of melo

### Anagrams

* elmi, lime

## Latin
### Noun

mēlī
* dative singular of mēlēs

## Latvian
### Etymology 1

See melis.

#### Noun

meli m
* vocative/accusative/instrumental singular of melis

### Etymology 2

See mele.

#### Noun

meli f
* accusative/instrumental singular of mele

### Etymology 3

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”).

#### Noun

meli m (1st declension)
* 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

##### Derived terms

* melīgs, melīgums

##### Related terms

* melis, mele
* melot

### References

* ↑ Karulis, Konstantīns (1992) “melot”, in Latviešu Etimoloģijas Vārdnīca‎ (in Latvian), Rīga: AVOTS, →ISBN

## Mapudungun
### Numeral

meli (Raguileo spelling)
* four

## Samoan
### Etymology 1

Borrowed from English mail.

#### Noun

meli
* mail

### Etymology 2

Ultimately from Latin mel, perhaps via Spanish miel.

#### Noun

meli
* honey

## Serbo-Croatian
### Participle

meli (Cyrillic spelling мели)
* masculine plural active past participle of mesti

## Sicilian
### Alternative forms

* mieli (< Italian miele)

### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈmɛli/
* Hyphenation: mè‧li

### Noun

meli m
* honey

### References

* 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

## Swahili
### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

* Audio (Kenya):(file)

### Noun

meli class IX (plural meli class X)
* ship
* cargo

## Tocharian B
### Etymology

Compare Tocharian A malañ.

### Noun

meli
* (plural only) nose