μέλῐ, τό,
genitive ῐτος, etc.; dative μέλι [[ 3rd c.BC: Philoxenus Epigrammaticus 3.17; _genitive_ _plural_ μελίτων 5th c.BC: Empedocles Poeta Philosophus 128.7 (nisi to be read μελιτῶν, compare μελιτόν)] Refs 5th c.BC+]:—honey, [[ 8th c.BC: Odyssea Homerus Epicus “Odyssey” 20.69, etc.; μ. χλωρόν 8th c.BC: Ilias Homerus Epicus “Illiad” 11.631, 8th c.BC: Odyssea Homerus Epicus “Odyssey” 10.234, 6th c.BC: Xenophanes Poeta Philosophus 38.1; ξανθόν 4th-5th c.BC: Simonides Lyricus 47; παμφαές 4th-5th c.BC: Aeschylus Tragicus “Persae” 612; τὸ μέλι τἀττικόν 5th-6th c.BC: Aristophanes Comicus “Pax” 252, compare 4th-3rd c.BC: Menander Comicus 708; various kinds, 4th-3rd c.BC: Theophrastus Philosophus “Fragmenta” 190 ] Refs 8th c.BC+]; said to be made from the palm (φοῖνιξ), [[ 5th c.BC: Herodotus Historicus 1.193, compare 4.194; μ. θανάτου σύμβολον 3rd c.AD: Porphyrius Tyrius Philosophus “de Antro Nympharum - Porphyrii Opuscula” 18. ] Refs 5th c.BC+]
__2 in comparisons, of anything sweet, especially of eloquence, μέλιτος γλυκίων ῥέεν αὐδή [[ 8th c.BC: Ilias Homerus Epicus “Illiad” 1.249, compare 5th c.BC: Pindarus Lyricus “O.” 10 (11). 98; Σοφοκλέους τοῦ μέλιτι κεχριμένου 5th-6th c.BC: Aristophanes Comicus “Fragmenta” 581; ὕπνος γλυκίων μέλιτος 2nd c.BC: Moschus Bucolicus 2.3; ἡ τῶν ἀνδρῶν [χολή] ἐστι πρὸς ἐκείνην μέλι 2nd c.AD: Alexander Rhetor 146.6: proverbial μήτε μοι μ. μήτε μέλισσα] Refs 8th c.BC+], of those who refuse to take 'the rough with the smooth', [[ 7th-6th c.BC: Sappho Lyrica 113. ] Refs 7th c.BC+]
__II sweet gum collected from certain trees, manna, [[ 4th c.BC: Aristoteles Philosophus “Mirabilia” 831b23; τὸ ὕον μ. 2nd c.AD: Polyaenus Historicus 4.3.32 ] Refs 4th c.BC+]; μ. ἄγριον, μαινόμενον, [[ 1st c.BC: Diodorus Siculus Historicus 19.94, 1st c.BC-1st c.AD: Strabo Geographus 12.3.18 ] Refs 1st c.BC+]. (Cf. Gothic milip, Latin mel.)