Everyday LifeGreek → English
Melanie
/ˈmɛləni/noun
A female given name.
The Greek roots
μέλας
mélas
black, dark
Literally: “dark one”
Follow a root:μέλας5 words
The story of the word
Two Roman aristocrats named Melania, grandmother and granddaughter, gave away enormous estates in the fourth and fifth centuries and were both made saints, which carried the name west. It reached English through French Mélanie and stayed rare until Gone with the Wind put Melanie Hamilton in every reading household. The same root darkens melancholy, which is literally black bile, one of the four humours.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → French → English
Same family
melaninmelancholymelanoma
In a sentence
Melanie kept the only spare key to the studio.