μέλλω

Of uncertain origin.

Traditionally derived from a Proto-Indo-European *mel- (“to linger, hesitate, be late”), and connected with Latin prōmellō (“to postpone a court case”), Old Irish mall (“slow, tardy”). This appears to be tentatively and mildly favored by Beekes.

Gray objects to this and instead takes the word as a denominal verb from an unattested *μέλος (*mélos), connected to μέλω (mélō, “to care for; to be of interest”) and Latin melior (“better”). The root in this case is *mel- (“strong, big”).

Another theory by Szemerenyi takes the word as related to μολεῖν (moleîn, “aorist infinitive of βλώσκω (blṓskō, “to go or come”)”), μέλος (mélos, “member”), Latin mōlior (“to strive, put in motion”).^[1]

μέλλω • (méllō)

1. to think of doing, intend to do, to mean to
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 6.52
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 2.39
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 23.544
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 22.356
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 13.293
2. to be about to do
   1. (by fate), to be destined to do, to be fated to do
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 2.36
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 5.686
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 7.270
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 18.138
      • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Protagoras 324E
      • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Phaedo 75B
   2. (by the will of other men, rare)
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 11.700
   3. (to denote a foregone conclusion)
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 21.83
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 4.274
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 4.377
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 1.564
   4. (to mark a strong possibility) to be likely to do
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 14.124
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 4.94
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 4.200
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 10.326
      • 446 BCE – 386 BCE, Aristophanes, The Acharnians 347
3. (to mark mere intention, to be always going to do without ever doing) to delay, put off, hesitate
   • 458 BCE, Aeschylus, Agamemnon 908
   • 525 BCE – 455 BCE, Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 627
   • 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Ajax 540
   • 446 BCE – 386 BCE, Aristophanes, The Acharnians 319
   • 430 BCE, Euripides, Herakles' Children 1209
   • 408 BCE, Euripides, The Phoenician Women 300
   • 525 BCE – 455 BCE, Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 36
   • 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Fragments 776
   • 413 BCE, Euripides, Ion 1002

μέλλω (méllō) often stands without its infinitive, when the verb immediately precedes or follows.

• ἀντιμέλλω (antiméllō)
• διαμέλλω (diaméllō)
• μελλητής (mellētḗs)

• “μέλλω”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “μέλλω”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “μέλλω”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• μέλλω in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• μέλλω in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “μέλλω”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G3195 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible