1. μέλω · melō — Beekes
The corpus record
μέλω
melo
to be concerned with, care for
Generated live from the audited corpus — every figure on this page is a database query, not prose from memory.
Where it lives
- Against Epicrates and his Fellow-envoys 1 · 13.35/10k
- Against Macartatus 6 · 9.69/10k
- Apollodorus Against Callipus 2 · 9.56/10k
- Rhesus 5 · 9.3/10k
- Letter 9 1 · 8.76/10k
- Against Alcibiades 1 2 · 8.29/10k
- Apology 7 · 8.01/10k
- Seven Against Thebes 4 · 7.95/10k
- Letter 2 1 · 7.84/10k
- Defense Against A Charge Of Taking Bribes 1 · 7.73/10k
- Heracles 6 · 7.67/10k
- Fragments 3 · 7.53/10k
Densest 12 of 133 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.
What it meant
2. μέλω · melō — Chantraine
3. μέλω · melō — Frisk
4. μέλω · melō — Frisk
5. μέλω · melō — LSJ
to be an object of care or thought, or in act. sense, care for, take an interest in.
pres. μέλω: impf. ἔμελον, Ep. μέλον Od. 5.6: fut. μελήσω, Ep. inf. μελησέμεν Il. 10.51: aor. ἐμέλησα: pf. μεμέληκα; also Ep. and Lyr. μέμηλα, Dor. part. μεμᾱλώς dub. in Pi. O. 1.89 (for Ep. forms of Med. v. infr. III.2): almost always 3 sg.and pl., exc. in pres. (v. infr.):—to be an object of care or thought, sts. with a personal subject (not in Att. Prose):
πᾶσι δόλοισιν ἀνθρώποισι μέλω by all manner of wiles am I in menʼs thoughts, i.e. am well known to them, Od. 9.20; Ἀργὼ πᾶσι μέλουσα 12.70; μελήσεις ἄφθιτον ἀνθρώποις αἰὲν ἔχων ὄνομα Thgn. 245; Εὐθυμίᾳ μέλων εἴην Pi. Fr. 155; μέλει σφισὶ Καλλιόπα Id. O. 10(11).14; ἵνα θανοῦσα νερτέροισιν μέλω E. Andr. 850 (lyr.); Ἔρως . . οὐρανίδαισι μέλων Id. Tr. 842; μέλων πολλοῖσι AP 5.121 (Diod.); ἡ μέλουσα ἀγέλη Them. Or. 1.10a: pf. part., ἀρεταῖσι μεμαλότας dear to virtue, Pi. O. 1.89 (dub.); μέλεγάρ οἱ [Ὀ
impers. c. inf., οὐκ ἔμελέν μοι ταῦτα μεταλλῆσαι Od. 16.465; so in A. Ag. 1250, Th. 1.141, etc.; also, μοι ἐμέλησεν ὥστε εἰδέναι X. Cyr. 6.3.19: united with the personal construction, οὗτος μητρὶ κηδεύειν μέλει E. Rh. 983.
less freq. with a Conj., οὐ μέλειν οἱ ὅτι ἀποθνῄσκει Hdt. 9.72; σοὶ μελέτω ὅκως . . Id. 1.9, cf. X. An. 1.8.13, etc.; ὡς δὲ καλῶς ἕξει . . , ἐμοὶ μελήσει Id. Cyr. 3.2.13; ἐμοὶ τοῦτο μέλει, μὴ . . S. Ph. 1121 (lyr.); οὐ τοσοῦτόν μοι μέλει εἰ . . Lys. 21.12.
3 sg. is freq. used impers. with the object in gen., and pers. in dat., ᾧ μέλει μάχας to whom there is care for the battle, who careth for it, A. Ch. 946 (lyr.), cf. Ag. 974; ἐμοὶ δʼ ἔλασσον Ζηνὸς ἢ μηδὲν μέλει Id. Pr. 938; θεοῖσιν εἰ δίκης μέλει S. Ph. 1036; Ζηνὶ τῶν σῶν μέλει πόνων E. Heracl. 717; πάνυ μοι τυγχάνει μεμεληκὸς τοῦ ᾄσματος Pl. Prt. 339b; also μέλει μοι περί τινος A. Ch. 780, Ar. Lys. 502, Pl. Alc. 2.150d; μεμέληκέ μοι περὶ αὐτῶν Id. Cra. 428b: less freq. with ὑπέρ, εἴπερ ὑπὲρ τοῦ
abs., μηδέ σοι μελησάτω A. Pr. 334; οἶμαι θεοῖς τοῖς κάτω μέλειν, οἳ (nisi leg. οἷς) ἠδίκηνται Antipho 1.31.
freq. with a neg., οὐδέν μοι μέλει I care not, Ar. Ra. 655; μή νυν μελέτω σοι μηδέν Id. Pl. 208; τῷ δʼ οὐδὲν μ. Alex. 178.2; so τί δέ σοι μέλει; Diph. 73.10.
μέλον ἔστι periphr. for μέλει, as τοῖσδʼ ἔσται μ. S. OC 653, cf. 1433.
neut. part. used abs., οὐδὲν ἄρʼ ἐμοῦ μέλον for they took no thought of me, Ar. V. 1288; δῆλον ὅτι οἶσθα, μέλον γέ σοι since you care about it, Pl. Ap. 24d; οὐδὲν αὐτῷ μ. τοῦ τοιούτου Id. Phdr. 235a; μ. αὐτοῖς ἰσχυρῶς ὅπῃ τὸ μέλλον ἀποβήσοιτο X. Cyr. 5.2.24; οὔτε σκοπούμεναι οὔτε μ. αὐταῖς ἄλλο ἢ χαρίζεσθαι Pl. Grg. 501b.
Med. is used by Poets and in Hp. like Act., μελόμεθα, -ησόμεθα, Hp. Ep. 27; to be an object of care, Ἄρτεμιν ᾇ μελόμεσθα E. Hipp. 60: mostly in 3 sg., ἐμοὶ δέ κε ταῦτα μελήσεται Il. 1.523; μή τί τοι ἡγεμόνος γε ποθὴ μελέσθω let it not weigh on thy mind, Od. 10.505; τἀντεῦθεν . . αὐτῷ μελέσθω Λοξίᾳ A. Eu. 61; τἀνθάδʼ ἂν μέλοιτʼ ἐμοί S. El. 1436; γάμους . . σοὶ χρὴ μέλεσθαι E. Ph. 759, etc.; ἰαχὰν μελομέναν νεκροῖς ib. 1302: rarely impers., σοὶ . . μελέσθω φρουρῆσαι S. El. 74; μέλεταί τινί τινος T
Ep. pf. and plpf. Pass. μέμβλεται, μέμβλετο (fr. μέ-μλ-εται, μέ-μλ-ετο), with pres. and impf. sense, ἦ νύ τοι οὐκέτι πάγχυ μετὰ φρεσὶ μέμβλετʼ Ἀχιλλεύς (for μέλει); Il. 19.343; μέμβλετο γάρ οἱ τεῖχος (for ἔμελε) 21.516; φόνος δέ οἱ οὐκ ἐνὶ θυμῷ μέμβλετο Od. 22.12; ᾗσιν ἀοιδὴ μέμβλεται ἐν στήθεσσιν Hes. Th. 61: hence later Ep. formed a pres. μέμβλομαι, 2 pl. μέμβλεσθε A.R. 2.217; 3 pl. μέμβλονται, in act. sense (cf. B. II infr.), μ. πόνοισι Opp. H. 4.77: the regul. pf. and plpf. (with pres. and i
with an object, care for, take an interest in a thing, c. gen., Hom. only in pf. part., μέγα πλούτοιο μεμηλώς busied with, attending to . . , Il. 5.708; μέγα πτολέμοιο μεμηλώς 13.297: later in pres., οὐκ ἔφα τις θεοὺς βροτῶν ἀξιοῦσθαι μέλειν A. Ag. 370 (lyr.); μέλειν μὲν ἡμῶν S. Aj. 689; δεινόν σε . . τικτούσης μέλειν Id. El. 342: later c. dat., care for, μέλω κύρτοις AP 10.10 (Arch.Jun.); θεοῖς μέλοντες Plu. Sull. 7: abs., to be anxious, μέλει . . κέαρ A. Th. 288, cf. Pers. 1049 (both lyr.); με
rarely c. acc., πεντήκοντα βοῶν ἀντάξια ταῦτα μέμηλας thou hast invented, h.Merc. 437 (fort. μέμηδας).
c. inf., θεοὶ τῶν ἀδίκων μέλουσι (μέλλουσι codd. opt.) καὶ τῶν ὁσίων ἐπᾴειν E. HF 773 (s.v.l.).
Med. μέλομαι, care for, take care of, c. gen., A. Th. 177 (lyr.), S. OT 1466, E. Hipp. 109, Heracl. 354 (lyr.), A.R. 1.967; τὰ λοιπά μου μέλου (where τὰ λ. is adverbial) S. OC 1138; μεμελημένοι ἀέθλων Opp. H. 4.101: c. dat., ἐτητυμίῃ μεμελημένος Call. Aet. 3.1.76 [Fr. 75.76 Pf.]; ἱππασίῃ μεμελημένον ἦτορ Q.S. 4.500: c. acc., μέλομαι ῥόδον (prob. l. for μέλπομαι) Anacreont. 53.2: with Preps., μέλεσθαι ἀμφί τι or τινος, A.R. 2.376, 4.491; ἀμφʼ αἰγῶν μεμελημένοι AP 6.221 (Leon.); ἐμέλοντο περὶ σφίσ
In the wild
- μέλειν · melein Aeschylus, Agamemnon 369–371
- μέλει · melei Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1250
- μέλειν · melein Aeschylus, Agamemnon 568–569
- μέλειν · melein Aeschylus, Agamemnon 585–586
- μέλοι · meloi Aeschylus, Agamemnon 974
- μελέσθω · melesthō Aeschylus, Eumenides 60–61
6 of 419 attestations shown. Ask for more.
Where it came from
- Treated in Beekes, Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Brill 2010) s.v. μέλω (scan pp. 979-980; entry #4006).
- Treated in Chantraine, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue grecque s.v. μέλω (scan p. 701; entry #5193).
- Treated in Frisk, Griechisches etymologisches Worterbuch s.v. μέλω (scan p. 2277; entry #7634).
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