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

(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)

(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.