Melʹon

The Mahometans say that the eating of a melon produces a thousand good works. So named from Melos.

Etre un melon. To be stupid or dull of comprehension. The melon-pumpkin or squash is soft and without heart, hence “être un melon” is to be as soft as a squash. So also “avoir un cœur de melon (or de citrouille)” means to have no heart at all. Tertullian says of Marcion, the heresiarch, “he has a pumpkin [pepʹonem] in the place of a heart [cordis loco].” It will be remembered that Thersiʹtēs, the railer, calls the Greeks “pumpkins” (pepʹonēs).

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.