View source for Melee

{{Short description|Hand-to-hand combat}}
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A '''melee''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|eɪ|l|eɪ}} or {{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|ɛ|l|eɪ}}) is disorganized [[hand-to-hand combat]] in [[close combat|battles fought at close range]] with little central control once it starts.{{sfn|OED|2015}} In [[military aviation]], a mêlée has been defined as "an air battle in which several aircraft, both friend and foe, are confusingly intermingled".{{sfn|Kumar|DeRemer|Marshall|2004|p=462}}
==Etymology and meaning of the term==
The English term ''melee'' originated in the 1640s from the French word ''{{lang|fr|mêlée}}'' ({{IPA|fr|mɛle|lang}}) and means a confused struggle or fight among several people, especially in [[hand-to-hand combat]] and battles among many combatants.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dictionary.com/browse/melee |title=the definition of melee |website=Dictionary.com |access-date=10 June 2017 |archive-date=2 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210302095052/https://www.dictionary.com/browse/melee |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=Merriam>{{cite web |url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/melee |title=Definition of melee |publisher=[[Merriam-Webster]] |access-date=10 June 2017 |archive-date=2 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210302095052/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/melee |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>[[Oxford English Dictionary]]. 2015. mêlée. "A battle or engagement at close quarters, a skirmish; a confused struggle or scuffle, esp. one involving many people. Also hist.: a tournament involving two groups of combatants."</ref> The French term is derived from the Old French ''mesler'',<ref name=Merriam/> which survives in ''[[:wikt:medley|medley]]'' and ''[[:wikt:meddle|meddle]]''.{{sfn|OED|2015}}
== Usage in gaming ==
The 1812 tabletop war game ''[[Kriegsspiel]]'' referred to the hand-combat stage of the game as a ''melee''.<ref>{{cite book |title=The American Kriegsspiel |author=W. R. Livermore |publisher=Riverside Press, Cambridge |year=1882 |page=105 |quote="The first point to be considered is the number of combatants on either side and the relative advantages under which they are fighting; the second the losses and duration of the melee" |url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/gdc/scd0001/2013/20130610001am/20130610001am.pdf |access-date=2019-08-14 |archive-date=2020-06-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200604195240/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/gdc/scd0001/2013/20130610001am/20130610001am.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> Later war games would follow this pattern.<ref name=Wells>{{cite book|title=Little Wars|url=https://archive.org/details/littlewarsgamefo00well|author=H.G. Wells|publisher=Frank Palmer Publishing|year=1913|quote="We did at last contrive to do so ; we invented what we call the melee, and our revised rules in the event of a melee will be found set out upon a later page"}}</ref><ref name=Timpson>{{cite web|title=Little Wars: How HG Wells created hobby war gaming |author=Trevor Timpson|date=August 3, 2013|access-date=October 6, 2017|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-22777029|archive-date=October 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171007120027/http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-22777029|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Plunkett>{{cite web |title=HG Wells Practically Invented Modern Tabletop Wargaming|author=Luke Plunkett|date=September 18, 2012|access-date=October 6, 2017 |publisher=Kotaku |url=https://kotaku.com/5944058/hg-wells-practically-invented-modern-tabletop-wargaming |archive-date=October 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171007115803/https://kotaku.com/5944058/hg-wells-practically-invented-modern-tabletop-wargaming|url-status=live}}</ref> From there, gamers would eventually begin to call the weapons used in that stage ''melee weapons''.<ref name=Gygax>{{cite web |url=http://www.gamebanshee.com/interviews/garygygax1.php |title=Interview with Gary Gygax |publisher=Gamebanshee|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090203084227/http://www.gamebanshee.com/interviews/garygygax1.php |url-status=dead |archive-date=2009-02-03 }}</ref><ref name=Tresca>{{cite book|title=The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games|author=Michael J. Tresca|date=November 10, 2010 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=9780786460090 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8H8bzqj6S4sC&q=melee&pg=PA60|access-date=October 27, 2020|archive-date=March 27, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230327030807/https://books.google.com/books?id=8H8bzqj6S4sC&q=melee&pg=PA60|url-status=live}}</ref> [[H.G. Wells]]' 1913 ''[[Little Wars]]'' was the first to specifically outline a "melee" rule in his eponymous war game.<ref name=Wells/> Many later wargames (and video games) can trace their origins to the rulesets first laid out in ''Little Wars''.<ref name=Timpson/><ref name=Plunkett/>
In 1968, [[Gary Gygax]] and [[Jeff Perren]] adopted and modified the rules for ''[[Siege of Bodenburg]]'', a medieval war game, and expanded on rules for one-on-one melee combat and specific melee weapon rules.<ref name=Gygax/><ref name=Tresca/> This modified ruleset was published as ''[[Chainmail (game)|Chainmail]]'' and included a fantasy supplement which would later be known as ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]''. The popularity of ''Dungeons & Dragons'', which featured a "melee phase" to represent the fighting of characters outside of bows and magic, would help spread the use of "melee" as a phrase for other table-top and video games regarding any form of combat involving close proximity to and direct physical contact with an opponent, whether unarmed, using weapons or, occasionally, through other methods besides typical [[Strike (attack)|strikes]] and [[Grappling|grappling]], such as certain [[Status effect|status effects]] that require physical contact to implement.
==See also==
{{wiktionary|melee|mêlée}}
*[[Combatives]]
*{{section link|Tournament (medieval)|Melee}}
==Notes==
{{Reflist|25em}}
==References==
*{{citation |last1=Kumar |first1=Bharat |last2=DeRemer |first2=Dale |last3=Marshall |first3=Douglas |year=2004 |title=An Illustrated Dictionary of Aviation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g_Zei3jR1U4C |publisher=McGraw Hill Professional|isbn=978-0-07-178260-9 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=g_Zei3jR1U4C&q=Melee 462]}}
*{{citation |ref={{harvid|OED|2015}}|title=Oxford English Dictionary|date=March 2015|article=mêlée n.|edition=online |publisher=Oxford University Press|chapter-url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/116086}}<!--" A battle or engagement at close quarters, a hand-to-hand fight; a skirmish; a confused struggle or scuffle, esp. one involving many people. Also hist.: a tournament involving two groups of combatants."-->
[[Category:Military science]]
{{mil-stub|date=May 2015}}