Adjective: Comparatives μείζων, πλείων

MorphologyAdjective – Comparatives μείζων, πλείων

• Comparatives like μείζων follow the same pattern as the first class of 3rd declension -ων nouns like τέκτων (see 30.1.3.1)

fromLesson 35.3

SemanticsAdjective – Comparatives (Comparatives vs. regular)

One semantic feature of comparatives often noted in the linguistics literature is that comparative adjectives do not necessarily entail the regular adjective. For example, if we say The blue cup is bigger than the red cup, we cannot conclude that the blue cup is big. It may still be small, but it may be big in comparison to the red cup. Although this may seem obvious, it is an important logical characteristic of comparatives that to say something is bigger than something else does not mean that it is itself big.

As comparatives, this applies to μείζων and πλείων as well:

• (343) Comparative with μείζων ὁ πατὴρ μείζων μού ἐστιν (John 14:28)
• My father is greater than me

fromLesson 35.3