The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
|
Appendix I
Indo-European Roots |
|
ENTRY: | mel-3 |
DEFINITION: | False, bad, wrong. 1. mal-, malice, malign; dismal, malady, malaria, maledict, malefactor, malefic, malentendu, malevolence, malison, malversation, from Latin malus, bad, and male, ill (> malignus, harmful). 2. Perhaps suffixed zero-grade form *m-s-. blame, blaspheme, from Greek blasphmos, blasphemous, perhaps from *ms-bh-mo-, speaking evil (*bh-, to speak; see bh-2). 3. Suffixed form *mel-yo-. markhor, from Avestan mairiia-, treacherous. (Pokorny 2. mel- 719, mlo- 724.) |
|
|
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
|
|