On the Particular Joys of Etymological Detective Work ‹ Literary Hub
Mellifluous comes from Latin mel, meaning “honey,” making it a linguistic relative of molasses, marmalade, and the name Melissa. The ancient Greek word melissa means “bee,” and may be a combination of two older words that literally mean “honey-licker.” The last part of mellifluous derives from Latin flu-ere, meaning “to flow,” from the same family of other “flowing” words, such as fluid and fluent. Something mellifluous, then, in its most literal sense, is “flowing with honey.”