Macedonian names and makeDonski pseudo-linguistics: The case of the name Milon

Miltiades Elia Bolaris

Το παρών άρθρο πρωτοδημοσιεύτηκε στο  Αμερικανικό διαδυκτιακό περιοδικό  

The American Chronicle

 http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/120108

September 22, 2009

Balkan Illusion - phantasia archaica:

"...it is very interesting to note that many of the authentic ancient Macedonian words, according to their etymology and pronunciation, have a striking resemblance to the appropriate words used in the modern Macedonian language (and other so called "Slav"[sic] languages)."

"Milo. This name was mentioned by Plutarch as a name of a Macedonian military leader in the Macedonian-Roman conflicts. This name exists to the present day in the Macedonian onomasticon. It has an obvious identification with the present day Macedonian adjective "milo" (dear), from which a number of names are (Milosh, Milko, Milka)."

Quotes taken from: "Similarities between ancient Macedonian and today's' Macedonian Culture (Linguistics and Onomastics)" by Aleksandar Donski, celebrity propagandist and folk "historian" from FYROM.

Milon / Μίλων

For every Leonidas, who sacrifices himself at the pass of last stand in Thermopylae, history gives us also a traitor, an Ephialtes, who gives in and betrays everything and capitulates to the enemy. For every Alexander, who is tireless, intelligent, fearless and invincible, history gives us a lazy, stupid, coward of a loser like Milon of Berroia / Μίλων ο Βερροιαίος, who "αἴσχιστα φεύγοντος ἄνευ τῶν ὅπλων μονοχίτωνος / fled shamefully without his armor, wearing only his chiton", at the skirmishes at the mountain passes of Πιερία/Pieria, before the main battle of Πύδνα/Pydna (168 BC), as Plutarch tells us:

16] Ὁ μὲν οὖν Νασικᾶς ἐνταῦθα διενυκτέρευσε· τῷ δὲ Περσεῖ, τὸν Αἰμίλιον ἀτρεμοῦντα κατὰ χώραν ὁρῶντι καὶ μὴ λογιζομένῳ τὸ γινόμενον, ἀποδρὰς ἐκ τῆς ὁδοῦ Κρὴς αὐτόμολος ἧκε μηνύων τὴν περίοδον τῶν Ῥωμαίων. ὁ δὲ συνταραχθείς, τὸ μὲν στρατόπεδον οὐκ ἐκίνησε, μυρίους δὲ μισθοφόρους ξένους καὶ δισχιλίους Μακεδόνας Μίλωνι παραδοὺς ἐξαπέστειλε, παρακελευσάμενος ταχῦναι καὶ καταλαβεῖν τὰς ὑπερβολάς. τούτοις ὁ μὲν Πολύβιός φησιν ἔτι κοιμωμένοις ἐπιπεσεῖν τοὺς Ῥωμαίους, ὁ δὲ Νασικᾶς ὀξὺν ἀγῶνα περὶ τοῖς ἄκροις γενέσθαι καὶ κίνδυνον, αὐτὸς δὲ Θρᾷκα μισθοφόρον εἰς χεῖρας συνδραμόντα τῷ ξυστῷ διὰ τοῦ στήθους πατάξας καταβαλεῖν, ἐκβιασθέντων δὲ τῶν πολεμίων, καὶ τοῦ Μίλωνος αἴσχιστα φεύγοντος ἄνευ τῶν ὅπλων μονοχίτωνος, ἀσφαλῶς ἀκολουθεῖν ἅμα καταβιβάζων εἰς τὴν χώραν τὸ στράτευμα

Πλουταρχου Βιοι Παραλληλοι, Αιμιλιος Παυλος

16] So here it was that Nasikas passed the night. A Cretan deserter, who fled the Roman camp during the march, discovered to Perseus the design which the Romans had to encompass him: for he, seeing that Aemilius lay still, had not suspected any such attempt. He was startled at the news, yet did not put his army in motion, but sent ten thousand mercenary soldiers, and two thousand Macedonians, under command of Milo, with order to hasten and possess themselves of the passes. Polybius relates that the Romans found these men asleep when they attacked them; but Nasica says there was a sharp and severe conflict on the top of the mountain, that he himself encountered a Thracian mercenary, pierced him through with his javelin, and slew him; and that the enemy being forced to retreat, Milo stripped to his coat and fled shamefully without his armor, while he followed without danger, and conveyed the whole army down into the country.

Plutarch , Parallel lives, Aemilius Paulus (Trans. by John Dryden)

About a century before the battle of Pydna, another Milon, an Epirotan this time, not a Macedonian, had made his appearance onj the other side of the Ionian Sea, in Italy. He was Milon/Μίλων, one of Pyrrhus'/Πύρρος generals. He had been left back in Taras/Τάρας/Tarentum, along with his son Helenos/'Ελενος, as a real guard against the Romans, until Pyrrhos had a chance to return.

Pyrrhus intended to go back to Italy, and attack Rome from a position of strength, having first secured control over the rest of Greece. His early death in Argos put an end to those plans and we never hear of Milon of Epeiros in Taras again.

The name Milon/Μίλων as shown above is not only Macedonian but an Epirotan name too: We have an inscription from Epirus corroborating the historical documentation, an epigraphic proof that the name Milon was fairly commonplace in Epirus:

Cabanes, L'Épire 547,17

Epeiros, Illyria, and Dalmatia : Epeiros

τὸ κοινὸν τῶν Ἠπειρωτῶν

Μίλωνα Σωσάνδρου

Θεσπρωτὸν ἀρετῆς

the common of the Epirotans

to Milon son of Sosandros

a Thesprotan due to (his) virtue

While we know the name to have been both Macedonian and Epirotan, searching further from Macedonia and Epiros we discover that it was also to be found elsewhere: In lower Moesia, where is now Bulgaria, we encounter this inscription from the Roman Times:

IGBulg V 5807

Thrace and Moesia Inferior

Ἀσκληπιῶι

Πό(πλιος) ∙ Καλπούρ(νιος) ∙ Μίλων

ἀνέθηκεν.

To Asclepios

Poplios Kalpournios Milon

made this offering.

A funerary inscription from the Greek city of Byzantion (later Constantinople, now Istanbul), in Thrace, gives us some tender details of the life of a young man, Zotychos, son of Milon.

IK Byzantion 268

Thrace and Moesia Inferior

ἐξῆλθον τοῦ

βίου Ζώτιχος Μίλωνος

ζήσας ἔτη ∙ κεʹ ∙ μῆ(νας) ∙ ι∙αʹ ∙

οἱ γονεῖς Μίλων καὶ Εἶα

τὸ σῆμα ἐθέμε μνάμας χάρ-

Zotychos son of Milon,

exited this life,

having lived 24 years and 11 months.

The parents, Milon and Eia,

erected this tombstone in memory's grace

Broadening our search we soon come to find out that Milon was not a name confined only to Northern Greece.

The most famous man called Milon in Antiquity was a man who lived in Southern Italy. He was was Milon of Croton (the Crotoniates)/Μιλων ο Κροτωνιατης, the renowned athlete. He was neither a Macedonian nor an Epeirotan, but a South Italian Greek. He lived in the 6th century BC, in the Doric Greek city state of Croton / Κροτων in Southern Italy (modern Italian Crotone, in Calabria). In 510 BC he led the Crotonian army to victory against the city of the neighboring Greek city state of Sybaris/Σύβαρις.

Milon was legendary for his strength and loved to be equated to Heracles, taking his likeness as far as to walk around with a Heracleian club. He was a powerful wrestler who broke all records in all thirty two Pan-Hellenic national games that he participated in. He won continuously in six Olympic and seven Pythian (Delphic) Games. Milon, according to legend, died a horrible death, trying to split a tree with his bare hands. The wedge fell out and his fingers were trapped in. He was eaten either by wolves or a lion, and this is how sculptors and painters immortalized him, as the example of the sculpture in the beginning of this article shows.

Milon/Μίλων, therefore, seems to be a Greek name that occurred throughout the ancient Hellenic world, twelve hundred years before the South Slavs made their appearance in the lower Balkans: we will mention a few select inscriptions, from different areas. The first is from Arcadia, in the middle of Peloponnese, where the Greek names Kleonymos/Κλεώνυμος, Aristolaos/ Ἀριστόλαος, Milon / Μίλων and Apelichos / Ἀπέλιχος are mentioned.

IPArk 24

Arkadia (IG V,2)

ρότερον ἢ Κλεώνυμος/Kleonymos τὰν πρωρὰν ἐξάγαγε τὰν Ἀριστολάω̣/of Aristolaos

καὶ τὸς πειρατὰς ἐξέβαλε. {²(§2)}² τὰς δὲ καδίκας τὰς ὦφλε Μίλων/Milon

καὶ Ἀπέλιχος/Apelichos ταῖ πόλι τῶ̣ σίτω ἀφεῶσθαι, καὶ τὰς λιποδαμ[ί]-

There are several inscriptions from Athens, which mentions a man from the nearby island of Salamis:

IG II² 10203

Attica

Μίλων

Σαλαμίνιος.

Milon

the Salaminian

Then another inscription, also from Athens, mentioning one, Milon son of Milon, Ionides (from Ionia):

IG II² 1939

Attica

Μενίσκος Μενάνδρου Ὀτρυνεύς

Μίλων Μίλωνος Ἰωνίδης / Milon son of Milon, Ionides

․․#⁷ων Διοφάντου —

Milon's name appears also in its feminine form as Milonia/Μιλ̣ωνία, a female who is actually a Milesia (a woman from Miletos), a Greek city in Caria:

Agora 17 605

Attica

Σε]κόνδα /Seconda

․․]λ̣ωνία {²⁷[Μι]λ̣ωνία?}/Milonia

Μι]λη[σί]α / Milesia

At the Athenian agora an article was found by archaeologists that belonged to a man called Milon:

Agora 21 F 56

Attica

Μίλωνός εἰμι

I belong to Milon

Far from Northern Greece, not related to Macedonia, is the Dorian island of Rhodos, in the Dodecanese, where many inscriptions survive with the same Milon:

Tit. Cam. 91b

Rhodes and S. Dodecanese (IG XII,1) : Rhodos

Κλειναγόρας Μίλωνος

Μίλων καὶ̣ Χαιριάδας καὶ

Δαμώνασσα τὸν πατέρα

Kleinagoras son of Milon

Milon and Chairiadas and

Damonassa to their father

In Rhodos again, we find a Peloponnesian man called Milon:

IG XII,1 408

Rhodes and S. Dodecanese (IG XII,1) : Rhodos

Μίλων Γορτύνιος.

Milon the Gortynian (a city in Arcadia, in central Peloponnese).

Inside Asia Minor we find numerous inscriptions with people named Milon. The first one if from Lydia:

TAM V,1 106, Lydia: Saittai

Στρατονείκην καὶ οἱ ἀδελ-

φοὶ Γλύκων καὶ Μίλων τὴν

ἀδελφὴν μνήμης χάριν καὶ

to Stratonike and the brothers

Glykon and Milon to their

sister in memory's grace

Further south, in the Greek city of Didyma in Ionia, we find an inscription on a sanctuary building which was built, as we are told, during the chairmanship of Milon, the son of Diotimos:

Didyma 109, Ionia

ταμιευόντων δὲ καὶ παρεδρευόντ[ων]

ἐν τῶι ἱερῶι Χαριδήμου τοῦ Ἀθηναίου, Μί-

λωνος τοῦ Διοτίμου, ἀρχιτεκτονοῦντος

Μαια[νδρ]ίου τοῦ Θράσωνος ⁶¹[⁵¹{ἀπολογισμὸς}]⁵¹

while treasurer and chairman

at the sanctuary were Charidemos the Athenian and Mi-

lon son of Diotimos, and architect was

Maiandrios, son of Thrason ⁶¹[⁵¹{the furnishing of the book-keeping accounting}]⁵¹

In the Carian city of Aphrodisias, in southwestern Asia Minor, among many other inscriptions with the name Milon we find:

Aphrodisias 324, Caria : Aphrodisias

Μίλων τρὶς

τοῦ Ἑρμίου

τοῦ Μίλωνος.

ἡ βουλὴ καὶ ὁ δῆμος ἐτείμησεν

the senate and the municipality honored

Milon,

Hermion's son

who was Milon's son,

thrice

In Phrygia, in central Asia Minor, y today's Turkish capital of Ancara, we find a dedication to yet another man called Milon:

Haspels, Highlands of Phrygia 352,140, Phrygia

λλος κὲ Μειλ-

ησία Μίλωνι.

llos and Meil-

esia to Milon

Back across the Aegean in the city of Eretria on the island of Euboea we read the simple inscription:

IG XII,9 428, Euboia (IG XII,9) : Eretria

Μίλων

Milon

Then, in the Egyptian city of Abydos we read in Greek on a partially preserved wall graffiti:

Graffites d'Abydos 588, Egypt and Nubia

Μίλων υἱὸς

Ὀρθομένη τὸ

Milon son of

Orthomenes the

Finally, going back to Italy, where Milon the Crotoniates was from,

we find this funerary inscription:

IG XIV 1697, Italy, incl. Magna Graecia

Ἰουλία Ἀνθοῦ-

σα Μίλωνος ἀ-

δελφὴ χαῖρε.

Ioulia Anthousa

Milon's sister

greetings!

The fact that Milon/Μιλων is a common Greek name found and documented throughout the known Greek world from Thrace, Macedonia and Epiros to the Aegean islands, Asia Minor, Egypt, Athens and Italian Magna Graecia, is indisputable. It is attested in Inscriptions as well as in history and in legend. I know that many readers find this documentation unbearably boring, but I would rather be accused of over-documenting our case than under-documenting it. Anyone can then compare this wealth of documentation with unfounded claims like "...according to their etymology and pronunciation, (these ancient Macedonian names) have a striking resemblance to the appropriate words used in the modern Macedonian (Slavomacedonian) language (and other so called "Slav"[sic] languages". Many Greeks, well versed in their ancient history, understandably find the Skopian propaganda ludicrous and unworthy of any response:

"How can the Skopians say that the ancient Macedonians were Slavic when the whole world knows that they spoke Greek and spread Greek language and civilization to Asia, and the whole world knows that the Slavs entered the Balkans a thousand years later?" is the usual question of a typical Greek.

This stance, unfortunately, assumes that "the rest of the world" knows history and is able to distinguish between historical fact and Balkan political fiction, and they will therefore reject out of hand and laugh at the Skopjan unhistorical propaganda. When we read that 35 percent of Americans believe in UFOs while another 31 percent in the existence of witches ( http://richarddawkins.net/article,1938,Poll-finds-more-Americans-believe-in-devil-than-Darwin,Reuters-Ed-Stoddard ), it becomes obvious that Skopian propaganda is not out to convince the educated ones (they have no chance there) but to mislead the uninformed.

It gets even worse when you get into Geography. Where is and what is Macedonia? I myself was asked once if Macedonia is where the macadamia nuts are grown. In a May 2002 poll by AP, one-third of Americans could not locate Louisiana on a map while one in two (48 percent) were unable to locate Mississippi, and this was in the middle of the media hype about the Hurricane Katrina disaster. Six in ten Americans when shown a map of the middle East could not locate Iraq, and almost one in two (47 percent) had no clue of where the Indian subcontinent lies on a map of Asia.

( http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12591413/ ).

Assuming that the majority of people around the world have integral knowledge of ancient Greek, Roman and Byzantine history, and that they know (or even care) when and where the Slavs came from, and that people around the world are able to distinguish between historical fact and pseudo-makedonist fiction is a very dangerous assumption. Underestimating the power of stupidity is, unfortunately, quite stupid. Politically motivated myths are dangerous, as the destructive power of the racial myths of the Nazi Party clearly demonstrated through the wholesale extermination of millions of Russians, Poles, Jews and Gypsies throughout the Nazi nightmare which these myths helped create.

Moving back to Milon, we realize that the next question is now to find out what is the meaning of this name, since all Greek names do have a meaning, no matter how deeply their meaning is hidden. Greek is a very precise and logical language: nothing is arbitrary. In this quest, we will need to take a small journey into Greek mythology:

We know of the myth about Hyacinthos/'Υάκινθος, the youth who was a friend of Apollo. One day they were exercising throwing the discus. When Apollo threw the discus towards Hyacinthos, Zephyr/Ζέφυρος, the wind, took the discus off its course and slammed it on Hyacinthos, killing him. In grief, Apollo transformed his friend into a flower. An identical but less known myth is also told about Smilax. Smilax/Σμίλαξ was playing discus with his divine friend Hermes, when the discus went off its course killing him. Hermes, like Apollo, had Smilax transformed into a flowering plant. In another myth, Smilax was not a young man but a nymph who had fallen in love with Crocos/Κρόκος, a youth who never responded to her love. The Gods, showing pity on her, transformed Crocus into a saffron flower, and metamorphosed Smilax, the nymph, into a flowering plant.

Smilax/Σμίλαξ, the name of the nymph and the plant, has two alternate spellings. The same name can be written by dropping the "s" in the beginning of the word and it is then written and pronounced as: Milax/Μιλαξ. We read in our Liddell &Scott Greek Lexicon:

1.Looking up under M: "μίλαξ, ακος, η, Att. for σμίιλαξ, the yewn tree. A convolvulvus".

2.Looking up under S : "σμίλαξ, ακος, o, Att. μίλαξ, the yewn tree. Lat. Taxus."

3.

One example of an appearance of the word smilax can be found on an inscription from the Acropolis of Athens:

Attica, Graef-Langlotz, AV Akropolis, no. 563 (CEG 1.440) (Gallavotti):

σοφροσύνην ἐνὶ κλα[δὶ σ]μίλα[κος ὃς φορεῖ]

οὗτος ἐλε]υθερίας καλὸν ἔχει στέφανον.

wisdom being a branch of Smilax, whoever wears it

is the one that has liberty's good diadem (wreath/crown)

There are some words in Greek beginning with "mi- / μι-" which originally had an "s" before the "mi- / μι-" that in some instances was later dropped. Τhe most obvious example is in the word micron / μικρον meaning the small, the little one. The words microchip, microcosm, microeconomics etc, all start with the word "micro-" for small. The word micron in the past had "s" in the beginning: smikron / σμικρον. In ancient times smicron coexisted with micron in everyday speech, and although in modern Greek speech it has been dropped completely it is still surviving in the words: smikrynsis / σμικρυνσις, smikryno / σμικρυνω, etc, which means minimizing something, to decrease something in in size etc.

Micron and smicron were also used to create proper names: the "Little"-one. In its female version, we find a Micra/Μίκρα from the Thessalian city of Larissa.

IG IX,2 1227, Thessaly (IG IX,2) : Pelasgiotis: Larisa

Δ]ορκαλὶς ∶ Θεμ̣[— —],

Μ]ίκρα Δαμοσ[θενεία],

Ὀ]λυμπιὰς ∶ Ἰσοδ̣[αμεία],

Dorkalis Them....

Micra Damostheneia

Olympias Isodameia

In far away Hellenistic Iran, and in the Persian city of Susa, we locate a Greek inscription that reads:

IK Estremo oriente 192, Susiana

καὶ Λαοδίκης τῆς τ[οῦ βασιλέως γυναικὸς]

Μικρὰν τὴν παιδίσ[κην αὐτοῦ]

ὡ]ς ἐτῶν τριά[κοντα, καὶ μὴ ἐξέστω]

and Laodice's the king's wife

Micra his little daughter

until she becomes thirty years old, and is not allowed

At the same time we also have names formed from smicron/σμικρον, two examples here being from Athens. The first name is male: Smicron:

IG II² 1742, Attica

Πολυκρά

Σμίκρων

Polycratos

Smikron

son of Polycratos

The second one is in the female form, as Smicra:

IG II² 4926, Attica

Σμίκρα ἀνέθηκεν.

Smicra dedicated.

Another example of how two words of the same meaning can exist one keeping the "s" in its beginning and one dropping it altogether are the words myrra/μυρρα and smyrna/σμυρνα, both meaning myrrh, "the resinous gum of the Asabian tree, used for embalming the dead", according to our Greek Lexicon. The Ionian city of Smyrna, today's Izmir is a synonym. We also see the words Sminthos and minthos, which although related in the beginning, linguistically and etymologically, went on to acquired different meanings later on.

We can now go back and revisit Milon. Milon/Μιλων is thematically and linguistically identical to Smilon/Σμιλων: they are the same name. The original noun on which this name is based is smile/σμίλη or smila/σμῖλα, (genitive: σμίλης or σμίλaς) female, first declension; it means the chisel used to carve marble. The verb is smileuo/σμιλεύω, to chisel away, to carve. Smileuma/σμίλευμα and smileutos/σμιλευτός means the carved, the sculpted item. In modern Greek it appears as smileutes/σμιλευτής.

Smilon/Σμίλων, the more archaic form of Milon / Μιλων, is attested as a proper name but nowhere as popular a name as the more modern-sounding Milon. Our first document is from Athens:

IG I³ 278, Attica

Κίθας
Σμίλλα

Γίγονος

Kithas

son of Smillas

Gigonos

On an incription from Delphi, Smila is used as a name for a person:

FD III 2:182, Delphi

Δελφοὶ ἔδωκαν Εὐφραίωι Γόργου, Σμ[ί]-

λ]αι Πασιξένου Ἀχαιοῖς ἐξ Ἅλου, αὐ-

τ]οῖς καὶ ἐκγόνοις, προξενίαν, προμαν-

The Delphians gave to Eufraios son of Gorgos, (and)

Smilas son of Pasixenos, Achaeans from Alos,

to them and to their descendants, the proxenian (embassadorship) proman-

In the north Aegean island of Thassos we find two inscriptions with the name of the same person, the son of Nymphon, but there is a twist to them. Let us read:

IG XII,8 298, Northern Aegean (IG XII,8) : Thasos

ριστίων  Ἀριστοκλείους

Σμίλων  Νύμφωνος

Φάνιππος  Ἀναξίλα

ristion son of Aristokleios,

Smilon son of Nymphon

Phanippos son of Anaxilas

In the next inscription, we have a Nymphon son of Smilon, who is obviously the son of the Smilon of the previous inscription, but now we have an alternate spelling of this name. Smilon is written here as Zmilon / Ζμίλων. It is obviously a matter of borderline pronunciation between s and z, which has been expressed in two different spellings:

IG XII,8 355, Northern Aegean (IG XII,8) : Thasos

Φανόλεως  Γόργου

Νύμφων  Ζμίλωνος

Ἀριστόνους  Ἀρχέλεω

Phanoleos son of Gorgos

Nymphon son of Zmilon

Aristonous son of Archeaos

We talked about smile/σμίλη meaning the scalpel or chisel used to carve marble stone or wood. We mentioned the verb smileuo/σμιλεύω, to carve. The same verb exists also wihout the "s" as mileuo/μιλεύω. A specialized word, used in medicine, where the verb mileuo is attested is the word Keratomilevsis/Κερατομίλευσις which is synthesized of the noun keratoeides/Κερατοειδής meaning the cornea and the verb mileuo/μιλεύω which as we already know means to chisel away. Mileuo/μιλεύω is used in this word without the "s", mileuo, not smileuo.

Everyone has heard of the LASEK eye procedure. The LASEK surgery is used to treat myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism. What most people have never heard of is what the acronym LASEK stands for:

LASer Epithelial Keratomileusis. It is a technique used to reshape the corneal tissue, using a laser beam as scalpel.

The name Milon was taken in from the South Italian Greeks by the Romans and used quite extensively as Milo. The Latins always dropped the "-n" in the end of Greek words: Platon – Plato, Apollon – Apollo etc. For Milon to have its ending "n" dropped and be pronounced in Latin as Milo, would be the norm for the Latins. Titus Annius Papianus Milo (95 B.C.–47 B.C.) was a Roman political leader and an ally of Cicero. He was accused for the instigation of the murder of his political opponent Publius Clodius Pulcher in 52 B.C.and Cicero, acting as his advocate, wrote (but did not deliver in person) the oration on his defense at the court, which was later published as Pro Milone / in Milo's favor. One possibility for its popularity is that it sounds like "miles" meaning "soldier" in Latin. For sure it is not derived from it, since there is no linguistic rule in Latin that could justify its derivation from "miles".

Milon is also attested as a Hebrew name, used as an abbreviation of Mi-kha-il / Michael, meaning "he who resembles God". It is most probably derived, as it happened in Latin, from the name of the famous Greek athlete, Milon the Crotoniates. The Hebrews of the Hellenistic and Roman times had culturally become very Hellenized and they freely adopted and used Greek names.

In the Slavonic languages there exist a number of names starting or ending with "mil", but they are of a different etymology than the Greek name. The proto-Slavic lexical form from which the Slavic names are derived is: *mi°lú and it means "sweet" and "dear". It is a cognate of the Greek words for honey: mielos / μίελος or meli / μελι. The Greek word for honey bee, Melissa, and the word Melodia (honey-sweet song) are both derived from meli.

Rick Derksen's "Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon", published by the Leiden University's series of etymological lexica of Indo-European languages, gives us a good direction as to how this word developed from the common Indo-European:

"Indo-European reconstruction: m(e)iH-lo-

Page in Pokorny: 711"

Then progress into the common Proto Balto-Slavic:

"Proto-Balto-Slavic reconstruction: m(e)i€los

Then in Baltic:

Lithuanian: mie´las `nice, sweet, dear' [adj o] 3; my´las (Z¹em.) `nice, sweet, dear' [adj o]

Latvian: mi~l§« `nice, sweet, dear' [adj jo]

Old Prussian: mijls `sweet, dear' [adj]" and finally in Slavic:

"Old Church Slavic: milú `pitiable' [adj o]

Russian: mi´lyj `sweet, dear' [adj o]

Czech: mily´ `sweet, dear' [adj o]

Slovak: mily´ `sweet, dear' [adj o]

Polish: mišy `sweet, dear' [adj o]

Serbo-Croatian: mi?o `sweet, dear, sympathetic' [adj o]; C¹ak. mi?l– (Vrgada) `dear' [adj o]; mi?o `sweet, dear, sympathetic' [adj o]; C¹ak. mi?l– (Vrgada) `dear' [adj o]; C¹ak. mi?li (Orbanic´i) `dear' [adj o] {1}

Slovene: mi?š `sympathetic, kind' [adj o], mi´la [Nomsf]

Bulgarian: mil `sweet, dear' [adj o]"

Slavonic words based on the root "mil" have developed to also mean merciful, dear, grace, favor, etc. Names derived from the root "mil" are Miloslav / Милослав / Miloslaw and its masculine derivatives which include Milorad / Милорад, Milan / Милан, Milosh / Милош / Miloš / Miłosz, Milenko / Миленко, Milko / Милко, Milivoje / Миливое and of course the diminutive Милo / Milo, the name which threw some very confused "professors" in Skopje into an abysmally deeper confusion with Milon. In female form they appear as Mila / Мила, Miloslava / Милослава, Milena / Милена, Milka / Милка, Milica / Милица etc. Other names are Bogomil / Богомил (dear to God), which corresponds to the German Gottlieb and to the Greek name Theophilos / Θεὀφιλος. Milan Kundera and Slobodan Miloshevic / Слободан Милошевић are among the most famous people with a Slavonic "mil / Мил"- derived name.

It is quite apparent that the Slavonic name Милo/Milo, the sweet or graceful or dear one, has no connection to the Greek name Milon/Μίλων or its equivalent Smilon/Σμίλων. Smilon and Milon represent an occupational name that describes the user of a carving chisel: a smila/σμίλα or smile/σμίλη. This is not unusual at all, in any language. An example of a similar occupational name in English is Sawyer, a name of Middle English origin, derived from the wood cutting tool "saw", indicating a "wood cutter".

In a marble-carving culture such as the Greek one, it is not surprising that the name Milon/Μίλων became popular and wide spread throughout the whole Hellenic world.