English
Melchior
Melchior comes from Latin Melchior.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEMelchior
- Englishearliest quotation 1991same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history not traced here.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEMelchior
- Englishearliest quotation 1991same form
Earliest quotation: 1991, Angela Carter, Wise Children: “So twin boys, our fathers, were born in the…”
A compound of מלך ‘king’ + אור ‘light’
Proto-Semitic *malk- ‘king, prince’
Hebrew מלך ‘king’
Every English word from Latin Melchior
Today it means
name One of the Magi according to medieval Christian legend.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin Melchior / Melchior