μέλαθρον

Etymology
Explained by the ancients as deriving from, because of the soot which accumulates on the ceiling. The comparison with, proposed by Frisk, fails because the latter would presuppose a root *mlh₃-, which can never yield μέλα-. Connection with was tentatively considered by Güntert and Pisani, because of the remarkable formal and semantic similarity. According to Beekes, this proves that the word is.

Noun

 * 1) roofbeam, ridgepole, vault of the roof
 * 2)  house, dwelling
 * 3) lair of an animal