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

Adjective

melior (comparative, neuter melius); third declension

1. comparative degree of bonus; better

Declension

Third-declension comparative adjective.

	singular			plural
	masc./fem.	neuter		masc./fem.	neuter
nominative	melior	melius		meliōrēs	meliōra
genitive	meliōris			meliōrum
dative	meliōrī			meliōribus
accusative	meliōrem	melius		meliōrēs meliōrīs	meliōra
ablative	meliōre meliōrī			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
  • Franco-Provençal: mèlyor
  • Old French: mieudre (nominative), meillor (oblique)
    • French: meilleur
• Southern Gallo-Romance:
  • Occitan: melhor, milhor
  • Old Catalan: mellor
    • Catalan: millor
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Aragonese: millor
  • Asturian: meyor
  • Galician: mellor
  • Portuguese: melhor
  • Spanish: mejor

See also

• bonus
• optimus

Further reading

• “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