μᾶλλον

See also: μάλλον

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Comparative form of μάλα (mála, “very”), from Proto-Indo-European *mel- (“strong, big”). Cognates include Latin melior (“better”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /mâːl.lon/ → /ˈmal.lon/ → /ˈma.lon/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /mâːl.lon/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈmal.lon/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈmal.lon/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈmal.lon/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈma.lon/

Adverb

μᾶλλον • (mâllon)

1. (comparative) more, more strongly, rather
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 5.231
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 1.351
   • 480 BCE – 411 BCE, Antiphon of Rhamnus, Collected Works 129.31
   • 380 BCE, Plato, Gorgias 487B
   • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Phaedo 63D
   • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Laws 715D
   • 400 BCE – 387 BCE, Plato, Apology 36D
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 15.370
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 9.300
   • 413 BCE, Euripides, Iphigenia in Tauris 1406
   • 405 BCE, Aristophanes, The Frogs 1001
   1. (strengthened)
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 9.700
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 1.322
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 8.470
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 18.22
      • 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Pythian Ode 10.88
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 23.386
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 23.429
      • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 3.104
      • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 1.50
      • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 1.114
      • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 8.71
   2. (joined to a second comparative)
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 24.243
      • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 1.31–32
      • 467 BCE, Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes 673
      • 470 BCE, Aeschylus, The Suppliants 279
      • 442 BCE, Sophocles, Antigone 1210
      • 458 BCE, Euripides, Electra 222
      • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Phaedo 79E
      • 380 BCE, Plato, Gorgias 487B
      • 4th century BC, Isaeus, Collected Works 47
   3. (in the phrase μᾶλλον δέ (mâllon dé)) much more, rather
      • 388 BCE, Aristophanes, Plutus 633
      • 330 BCE, Demosthenes, On the Crown 65
      • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 2.87
   4. (in the phrase οὐδὲν μᾶλλον (oudèn mâllon))
      • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 3.79
      • 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Phaedo 87D
      • 497 BCE – 405 BCE, Sophocles, Ajax 280
      • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 3.36
      • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 4.118
      • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 5.94
      • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 7.16.3
      • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Hellenica 6.3.15

References

• “μᾶλλον”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “μᾶλλον”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• μᾶλλον in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• μᾶλλον in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• G3123 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • better idem, page 77.
  • more idem, page 541.
  • preferably idem, page 634.
  • rather idem, page 673.