how do you say toronjil
my name is melissa i looked up my name in a Spanish dictionary it said toronjil is that my name in Spanish??
3 Answers
Welcome to the SpanishDict Forum, Missy599! 
If your name in English is Melissa, then your name in Spanish is Melisa. 
And you would pronounce it meh-lee-sah. It may not be a common Hispanic name, but it is used. I have a friend who has a granddaughter in Mexico named Melisa.
We look forward to seeing you around! 
Melissa is from Greek mythology, she was a princess from Crete who turned into a honey bee once she learned how to collect and make honey....(miel) or [mel*sa] in Greek: bee, honey.
The term Teronjil is Spanish in origin and refers to lemon balm OR I found this answer: Mexican Giant Hyssop, is an erect bushy, lemon scented ,short lived perennial with ovate to lance shaped leaves used as a relaxant, calmative, antihistamine, sedative, antidepressant,antiviral, antibacterial, antimicrobial. Both seem to describe herbal// homeopathic treatment…something similar to bee honey, but not quite the same….perhaps it was the flower’s nectar that lent to the comparison of Melissa to Teronjil??
Interesting to note: Lisa is a dirivitive of Melissa
I seriously doubt it.
Toronjil seems to be an herb. The dictionary was probably just grasping at straws comparing root names in Latin to look for a common link between Spanish and English names.
The scientific name for toronjil is melissa officinalis so the dictionary probably thought "close enough".
Only a relatively few names in English would translate directly into Spanish (Juan-John, José- Joseph, María-Mary, etc.)
Melissa should be pronouceable in Spanish. One of the main reasons for using a substitute name in a language would be if it contained a letter combination that wasn't pronouceable in that language. (like the English r,l? in Chinese languages) (or the Spanish rr in English as far as I'm concerned).
