Melotte, O. E. A garment worn by monks during laborious occupation. (Halliwell.)
Membrana, R. (membrum, skin). Parchment for writing on was introduced as a substitute for the Egyptian papyrus by Eumenes II., king of Pergamus. It was usually written over on one side, and the back was stained with saffron. The writings were frequently erased, and the paper or parchment used again. It was then called a palimpsest. All the sheets used for one work were joined together into a long scroll, which was folded round a staff, and then called volumen; usually there were ornamental balls or bosses, projecting from the ends of the staff, called umbilici or cornua. The ends of the roll were carefully cut and blackened; they were called geminæ frontes. The roll itself was kept in a parchment case, which was stained purple or yellow. (See also Liber.)
Membranula, R. (dimin. of membrana). A small strip of parchment on which the title or contents of a volume were inscribed in minium.
Menat, Egyp. An Egyptian amulet worn on a necklace. The menat evidently formed some symbol, the meaning of which has hitherto not been discovered.
Menehis or Minihis, Fr. This term, derived from the Celtic menech-ti (house of a monk), or manach-li (free spot of earth), was formerly used in Brittany to denote a place of asylum which had been consecrated in any way.
Menhir, Celt. A Celtic monument consisting of a huge stone fixed upright in the ground. Menhirs are found associated with dolmens, tumuli, and circles of stones. (Consult Bertrand, Archéologie Celtique et Gauloise, p. 84.)
Menis, Meniscus, Gr. and R. (μηνίσκος; μήνη, the moon). A crescent-shaped piece of metal which was placed on statues of the gods to hinder birds from settling on them. The same term was used to denote an ornament, likewise in the shape of a crescent, placed by the Romans at the beginning of their books; hence the expression a menide, from the beginning. (Cf. Luna.)
Mensa, R. (Gr. τράπεζα). A board, tablet, or table; mensa escaria, or mensa simply, a dining-table; mensa prima, secunda, the first, second course of a meal; mensa tripes, a table with three feet, in contradistinction to monopodium, a table with a single leg; mensa vinaria, a drinking-table (see Delphica); mensa sacra, an altar-table; mensa vasaria, a table for holding vessels; mensa publica, a public bank; hence mensarii, bankers.
Mensao, Celt. A Celtic monument more usually called Menhir (q.v.).
Mensole, Arch. A term denoting the key-stone of an arch.