Melita

English

Proper noun

Melita

1. (historical) Synonym of Malta.

Latin

Alternative forms

• Melitē, Malta

Etymology

From Ancient Greek Μελίτη (Melítē). In reference to Mdina, apparently from its role as the seat of government over the island.

Proper noun

Melita f sg (genitive Melitae); first declension

1. Mdina (a city on the island of Malta, Malta)
2. Malta (the largest island in the Maltese Archipelago)
3. (New Latin) Malta (an archipelago and country in Southern Europe, in the Mediterranean Sea)
4. Mljet (an island in the Adriatic Sea, Croatia)

Declension

First-declension noun, with locative, singular only.

	singular
nominative	Melita
genitive	Melitae
dative	Melitae
accusative	Melitam
ablative	Melitā
vocative	Melita
locative	Melitae

Derived terms

• Melitēnsis

Descendants

• → Arabic: مَالِطَا (māliṭā)
  • Maltese: Malta
    • → English: Malta
    • → French: Malte
    • → Irish: Málta
    • → Italian: Malta
    • → Portuguese: Malta
    • → Sicilian: Mauta, Marta
    • → Spanish: Malta
      • → Tagalog: Malta
  • → Ottoman Turkish: مالطه (malta)
    • Turkish: Malta
  • → South Levantine Arabic: مالطا (mālṭa)
• → English: Melita
• Middle French: Melite
  • French: Mélite
• → Proto-Slavic: *Mьlětъ
  • Serbo-Croatian: Mljet
    • → English: Mljet
    • → Greek: Μλιετ (Mliet)
• Venetan: Meleda
  • → Italian: Meleda
    • → English: Meleda (obsolete)

References

• “Melita”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “Melita”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.