Melo- 1) (Greek Melon Cheek)

The name melo comes from the Greek word melos, which means “cheek”. When Europeans first discovered a new land - South America, they encountered an unfamiliar and incomprehensible language of the local inhabitants, but for a long time no one was able to understand the meaning of their speech. Then, finally, they managed to find one Indian so thin and extremely emaciated that all his teeth could be counted. It was a resident of the area of ​​​​Lake Guadalquivir named Melo. Everything about the name was unusual, and the Indian himself was just a piece of gray fur and skin. Thus, many travelers began to call the Indians "Melo".

Melo is a compound word for cheek.

Depending on the context, it can mean "pertaining to the cheek", "having the shape of a cheek", "resembling the outline of a cheek", or more specifically "pertaining to the cheek". For example, the word melostoma is sometimes used to refer to the trefoils of the spurge plant (Onopordum), which usually have the shape of a three-lobed crown associated with the human neck, and for this reason resemble human skin.

The Greek name comes from the word melos, meaning “cheek”. In Russian it entered the language in the meaning of “cheek” with the same Greek root.