μᾶλλον

Forms

μᾶλλον (mâllon) ^[1] Ionic μάλιον (málion) in Tyrtaeus and Callimachus; late Doric μαλλότερον (mallóteron).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is the comparative degree of the adverb, from Ancient Greek μάλα (mála, “very”),^[4][2][5] whose superlative is μάλιστα (málista).^[4] The comparative would be expected with the full grade, a form *μέλλον (*méllon) matching Latin melius (“better”); μᾶλλον took its long /aː/ secondarily, after the model of θᾶσσον (thâsson) beside τάχα (tákha).^[4][6][5] The Ionic μάλιον (málion) is a later remodelling.^[4][6]

μάλα (mála) is traced to Proto-Indo-European *mel- (“strong, better”), with a zero grade as in Latin multus (“many”) and Latvian milns (“very many”).^[4][5][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Homer on, meaning “more” and “rather”, and already strengthening another comparative (“easier still”).^[8][2][3]

Semantic evolution

Homer also uses it in a positive sense, “exceedingly”, and strengthens it with words meaning “much” or “still”.^[2][8] Classical Greek compares with ἤ (ḗ, “than”) or, in prose, with the genitive, as in “more than is needed”.^[2] Herodotus has people wish to be dead rather than alive.^[2][9] Doubled (μᾶλλον, μᾶλλον) it meant “more and more”, without the conjunction καί, as the lexicographers note of Menander and Alexis.^[2][10] With δέ it corrected what had just been said (“many, or rather all”), and Aristotle named the argument a fortiori “the more and the less”.^[2][3]

In the Septuagint it forms or strengthens a comparative, and in the New Testament the blind man of Mark cried out “much more” (πολλῷ μᾶλλον).^[11][12] Coptic borrowed it as ⲙⲁⲗⲗⲟⲛ (mallon), recorded from AD 400.^[13] It survives in Modern Greek as the learned μάλλον (mállon) “more, rather”.^[14][15][5]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for “more, rather” and to strengthen another comparative.^[8][2]
• 7th century BC – Tyrtaeus has the Ionic form μάλιον (málion).^[2][16]
• 5th century BC – Euripides doubles it (μᾶλλον, μᾶλλον) for “more and more”.^[2][16]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses μᾶλλον δέ to correct a statement, “or rather”.^[2][3][16]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle calls an argument a fortiori “the more and the less”.^[2][16]
• 1st century AD – The Gospel of Mark uses πολλῷ μᾶλλον, “much more”.^[12]
• AD 400 – The earliest dated Coptic manuscript with the borrowing ⲙⲁⲗⲗⲟⲛ (mallon) is written.^[13]
• Modern Greek – The learned μάλλον (mállon) means “more, rather”.^[14][15]

Meanings

Adverb

1. More, to a greater degree, with ἤ “than” or a genitive of comparison.^[2][3]
2. Rather, sooner, expressing preference.^[2][9]
3. Strengthening another comparative: still more, even.^[2][3]
4. Doubled (μᾶλλον, μᾶλλον): more and more.^[2][10]
5. μᾶλλον δέ: “or rather”, correcting what has been said.^[2][3]
6. (Homer) In a positive sense, exceedingly.^[2][8]
7. τὸ μᾶλλον καὶ ἧττον: the argument a fortiori (Aristotle).^[2]

Related words

• μάλα (mála)
• μάλιστα (málista)
• Latin melior
• Latin multus

Usage notes

Its opposite is ἧσσον (hêsson, “less”), with which Plato pairs it.^[17][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b c d e 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
5. ^ a b c d Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
6. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
7. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
8. ^ a b c d Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
9. ^ a b c Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
10. ^ a b Photius, Lexicon, ed. Christos Theodoridis, vol. 1 (Α–Δ) (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1982); ed. Richard Porson (Cambridge, 1822)
11. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
12. ^ 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
13. ^ a b Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
14. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
15. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
16. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
17. ^ Charbonnet, André (2025), Chæréphon, v4.7: supplement to Bailly from papyri, inscriptions and recent lexica