11 Comments
I remembered the word for honey, mêl. I noticed that butter, menyn, looks extremely similar. I decided to look up the word for yellow and was pleasantly surprised to find "melyn". Certainly a pattern there. The drink "Mello Yello" suddenly makes more sense.
February 26, 2016
Yep, mêl and melyn both ultimately come from the same source, PIE *melit-, with many modern day cognates.
(Y)menyn on the other hand comes from PIE *h₃engʷ-, meaning "to anoint". Cognates are Latin "ung(u)ere", English "unctuous", German dialect "Anke".
Making little connections like you have, whether their historically accurate or not, is a great way to learn vocab.
March 17, 2016
Knowing a bit of French, mêl also seems likely a cognate of le miel, the French for honey.
February 27, 2016
