melior

Interlingua

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /meˈljor/

Adjective

melior

1. (comparative degree of bon) better

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *meljōs, from Proto-Indo-European *mélyōs, from *mel- (“strong, big”). Cognate with multus, Ancient Greek μάλα (mála), Latvian milns (“very much, a lot of”). Displaced bonior as the comparative of bonus.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈme.li.or/, [ˈmɛlʲiɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈme.li.or/, [ˈmɛːlior]

Adjective

melior (neuter melius); third declension

1. comparative degree of bonus; better

Declension

Third-declension comparative adjective.

Number	Singular			Plural
Case / Gender	Masc./Fem.	Neuter		Masc./Fem.	Neuter
Nominative	melior	melius		meliōrēs	meliōra
Genitive	meliōris			meliōrum
Dative	meliōrī			meliōribus
Accusative	meliōrem	melius		meliōrēs	meliōra
Ablative	meliōre			meliōribus
Vocative	melior	melius		meliōrēs	meliōra

Derived terms

• meliōrō

Descendants

• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: migliore
• Padanian:
  • Friulian: miôr
  • Romansch: meglier
• Northern Gallo-Romance:
  • Angevin: meillour
  • Bourguignon: moillour
  • Norman: meilleur
  • Old French: mieudre (nominative), meillor (oblique)
    • French: meilleur
• Southern Gallo-Romance:
  • Aragonese: millor
  • Occitan: melhor, milhor
  • Old Catalan: mellor
    • Catalan: millor
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Asturian: meyor
  • Galician: mellor
  • Portuguese: melhor
  • Spanish: mejor

See also

• bonus
• optimus

References

• “melior”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “melior”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• melior in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to find one's circumstances altered for the better (the worse): meliore (deteriore) condicione esse, uti
    
  • my position is considerably improved; my prospects are brighter: res meae meliore loco, in meliore causa sunt
    
  • my position is considerably improved; my prospects are brighter: meliorem in statum redigor
    
  • to hope well of a person: bene, optime (meliora) sperare de aliquo (Nep. Milt. 1. 1)
    
  • to induce some one to take a brighter view of things: in meliorem spem, cogitationem aliquem inducere (Off. 2. 15. 53)
    
  • heaven forfend: di prohibeant, di meliora!
    
  • (ambiguous) he feels better: melius ei factum est
    
  • (ambiguous) to deserve well at some one's hands; to do a service to..: bene, praeclare (melius, optime) mereri de aliquo
    
• De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 370