Explained by the ancients as deriving from μέλας (mélas, “black”), because of the soot which accumulates on the ceiling. The comparison with βλωθρός (blōthrós, “high”), proposed by Frisk, fails because the latter would presuppose a root *mlh₃-, which can never yield μέλα-. Connection with κμέλαθρον (kmélathron, “beam”) was tentatively considered by Güntert and Pisani, because of the remarkable formal and semantic similarity. According to Beekes, this proves that the word is Pre-Greek.
μέλᾰθρον • (mélathron) n (genitive μελᾰ́θρου); second declension
Case / # | Singular | Dual | Plural | ||||||||||
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Nominative | τὸ μέλᾰθρον tò mélathron |
τὼ μελᾰ́θρω tṑ meláthrō |
τᾰ̀ μέλᾰθρᾰ tà mélathra | ||||||||||
Genitive | τοῦ μελᾰ́θρου toû meláthrou |
τοῖν μελᾰ́θροιν toîn meláthroin |
τῶν μελᾰ́θρων tôn meláthrōn | ||||||||||
Dative | τῷ μελᾰ́θρῳ tôi meláthrōi |
τοῖν μελᾰ́θροιν toîn meláthroin |
τοῖς μελᾰ́θροις toîs meláthrois | ||||||||||
Accusative | τὸ μέλᾰθρον tò mélathron |
τὼ μελᾰ́θρω tṑ meláthrō |
τᾰ̀ μέλᾰθρᾰ tà mélathra | ||||||||||
Vocative | μέλᾰθρον mélathron |
μελᾰ́θρω meláthrō |
μέλᾰθρᾰ mélathra | ||||||||||
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