μέγας

Forms

μέγᾰς (mégas) m (feminine μεγᾰ́λη, neuter μέγᾰ); first/second declension^[1] Comparative μείζων (meízōn), Ionic and dialect μέζων (mézōn), whose Attic long vowel is due to κρείττων (kreíttōn) and ἀμείνων (ameínōn); superlative μέγιστος (mégistos).^[2][3] Mycenaean comparative Mycenaean Greek me-zo, plural me-zo-e, and superlative Mycenaean Greek me-ki-ta.^[2][4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *mégas,^[1] from Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s (“great”).^[1][2] The neuter μέγα (méga) matches Old Armenian մեծ (mec) and Sanskrit मह (mahá), where the laryngeal after /ǵ/ caused aspiration; the masculine is an innovation made from the neuter.^[2][1] Related are Hittite mekk- (“much, many”) and Old Norse mjǫk (“very”).^[2] The other forms of the paradigm add an -l- of unclear origin, as in Old English miċel and Lithuanian dìdelis.^[2][1] Cognate also with Latin magnus and Albanian madh.^[1][5]

Wiktionary explains the Greek paradigm as a conflation of that form with its derivative *meǵh₂los.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Mycenaean tablets have the comparative me-zo and the superlative me-ki-ta.^[2][5] In Homer it is great in size, of long weapons and trenches, tall warriors and vast sea, and great in strength, sound or fame.^[6][3]

Semantic evolution

Already in Homer it covers size, strength, loudness, power and importance, and also boastful or outrageous words and deeds.^[3] With the article it marks the greater of two namesakes, and the great Panathenaea in Thucydides; it is the title of Persian and Hellenistic kings.^[3] In the Septuagint it also means grown up and old.^[7] In New Testament Greek the comparative had lost its force, so that the double comparative μειζότερος (meizóteros) appears.^[8] From the 4th century AD a masculine μεγάλος (megálos) was made from the stem μεγαλ-; it is Modern Greek μεγάλος (megálos) today, while μέγας (mégas) survives as a learned word in titles and names: Μέγας Αλέξανδρος (Mégas Aléxandros) Alexander the Great.^[9][10][5]

Timeline

• Mycenaean – the comparative me-zo and superlative me-ki-ta.^[2][5]
• Homer – great in size, strength, sound and fame.^[6][3]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it of the Persian king.^[3][11]
• 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it of the Great Panathenaea.^[3][11]
• 1st century AD – the New Testament has the double comparative μειζότερος.^[8]
• 4th century AD – the new masculine μεγάλος appears.^[9]
• Modern Greek – μεγάλος; μέγας as a learned word in titles.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Great in size: large, big, tall; of the landscape, vast.^[3][12]
2. Full-grown, adult.^[3]
3. Great in strength: of winds or fire, powerful, violent; of sounds, loud.^[3]
4. Of gods and men, mighty, powerful, famous; with the article, the great one (of a king, or the greater of two namesakes).^[3]
5. Great in degree, importance or difficulty.^[3]
6. (pejorative) Of words and deeds, outrageous, boastful.^[3]
7. Great in number or in value.^[3]

Word family

• μέγαθος (mégathos)
• μεγαίρω (megaírō)
• μεγαλαυχία (megalaukhía)
• μεγάλαυχος (megálaukhos)
• μεγαλίζομαι (megalízomai)
• μεγαλοπρέπεια (megaloprépeia)
• μεγάλως (megálōs)
• μεγαλωστί (megalōstí)
• μέγεθος (mégethos)
• μεγάλος (megálos)
• μεγαλότης (megalótēs)
• μεγαλύνω (megalúnō)

Related words

• ἀγα- (aga-)
• ἄγαν (ágān)
• μέγιστος (mégistos)
• μείζων (meízōn)
• Latin magnus
• English mega-

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ Микенско-русский словарь (Mycenaean–Russian dictionary)
5. ^ a b c d e Heggarty, Paul, et al. (2023), Indo-European Cognate Relationships (IE-CoR), Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, https://iecor.clld.org
6. ^ a b Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
7. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
8. ^ a b Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
9. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
12. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press