Everyday LifeGreek → English
Melissa
/məˈlɪsə/proper noun
A female given name, and the botanical name of lemon balm.
The Greek roots
μέλισσα
mélissa
bee
μέλι
méli
honey
Literally: “the honey creature”
The story of the word
The bee is named from the honey rather than the other way round: μέλι gives μέλισσα, the honey one. Lemon balm carries the genus name Melissa because beekeepers rubbed the crushed leaves inside a hive to settle a new swarm, a trick Pliny records. In myth a nymph called Melissa fed honey to the infant Zeus while he was hidden from his father on Crete, and the priestesses at Delphi were also called bees.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
In a sentence
Melissa keeps two hives at the bottom of the garden, which nobody planned.