Etymograph

English

Melanie

Melanie comes from Ancient Greek μέλας ‘black, dark’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *melh₂-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*melh₂-‘dark, black’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*mélans‘black’reconstructed
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEμέλαςmélas‘black, dark’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEMelania
  5. Frenchc. 1600–presentMélanie
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1967Melanie

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*melh₂-‘dark, black’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*mélans‘black’reconstructed
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEμέλαςmélas‘black, dark’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEMelania
  5. Frenchc. 1600–presentMélanie
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1967Melanie

Earliest quotation: 1967, Angela Carter, The Magic Toyshop: “'I learn the craft. I'm your uncle's apprentice, Melanie.'…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- ‘dark, black’

miller, mill, meal, mild, mold, mole, mould, muller, camo, amulet, mull, amalgam, bonanza, malleable, molar, moulin, moline, maelstrom, martel, malm, amyl, 38 more

through Ancient Greek μέλας ‘black, dark’

mule, mullet, melatonin, 3 more

Today it means

name A female given name from Ancient Greek.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- / Melanie

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