# maior
## Galician
### Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin maiōrem.

### Adjective

maior m or f (plural maiores)
* bigger, greater, major
    Antonym: menor
* (music) major
    Antonym: menor

#### Synonyms

* meirande

#### Related terms

* maioría

## Latin
### Alternative forms

* major, maiior

### Etymology

From Proto-Italic *magjōs, from Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂yōs, from *meǵh₂- (“great”) +‎ *-yōs (comparative suffix).

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈmai̯.i̯or/, [ˈmäi̯ːɔr]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈma.jor/, [ˈmäːjor]
* The first syllable contains a short vowel followed by a long (double) consonantal -i-. For the purpose of Latin scansion, this forms a long syllable. Although many dictionaries mark vowels in this context with a macron, the vowel itself is not long.

### Adjective

maior (comparative, neuter maius); third declension
* comparative degree of magnus
    Antonym: minor

#### Inflection

Third-declension comparative adjective, with locative.

#### Derived terms

* maiestās (noun)
* maiusculus (diminutive)

#### Descendants

* Aromanian: mari
* Asturian: mayor
* → Breton: maer
* Catalan: major
* Dalmatian: maur
* → Dutch: meier
* → English: major
* French: major, majeur, maire, majorer, mayeur
** → English: major, mayor, majorate
** → Finnish: määri
** → Portuguese: major
** → Romanian: major
** → Russian: мажор (mažor), мэр (mɛr)
* Friulian: maiôr, majôr
* Galician: maior
* → German: Meier
* Istriot: maiur
* Italian: maggiore, maggiorare
* Ladin: majer
* Megleno-Romanian: mari
* Norman: maire
* Occitan: major, màger
* → Old Irish: maer
** Irish: maor
* Piedmontese: magior
* Portuguese: mor, maior
* Romanian: mare
* → Russian: майор (major)
* Sardinian: magiori, mere
* → Scots: mair
* Sicilian: maggiuri, majuri
* Spanish: mayor, mayorar, Mallorca or Majorca
** → German: Major
*** → Romanian: maior
*** → Swedish: major
**** → Finnish: majuri
* Venetan: maxor, mazor
* → Welsh: maer

### Noun

maior m (genitive maiōris); third declension
* (in the plural) ancestors, forefathers; advanced in years, the aged; the elders
** 106 BCE – 43 BCE, Cicero, Pro Archia Poeta Oratio line 284:Ergo illum, qui haec fecerat, Rudinum hominem, maiores nostri in civitatem receperunt.Therefore Ennius, who composed these poems, although a man from Rudiae, our ancestors granted him citizenship.
** 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 5.73–74:‘hinc sua maiōrēs tribuisse vocābula Maiō tangor et aetātī cōnsuluisse suae.’‘‘Because of this, the ancestors granted their name to May, I have come to grasp, and in regard to their own old age.’’ (The muse Urania claims that the month of May honors the ‘‘maiōrēs’’ – ‘‘ancestors’’ or ‘‘elders’’.)
* (Medieval Latin) A mayor (a leader of a city or town).

#### Inflection

Third-declension noun.

#### Descendants

* Old French: maire m
** Middle French: maire m
*** French: maire m
** Norman: maire m
** → Middle English: maire
*** English: mayor

#### References

* ↑ Nishimura, Kanehiro (2011) “Notes on Glide Treatment in Latin Orthography and Phonology: -iciō, servus, aiō”, in Historische Sprachforschung / Historical Linguistics, volume 124, page 193:It is well known that Latin orthography tends to avoid gemination of ⟨i⟩ for two successive i̯-glides [...] The most classic case may be maior 'larger'; its phonological representation is /mai̯i̯or/ [...] the provision of a macron (i.e., māior, as if the vowel were long) in order to display the syllable weight — the way common in a number of grammar books and dictionaries — is utterly misleading in that it disguises the phonological reality.

#### Further reading

* “major”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “maior”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
* maior in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
* Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co. the elde: maior (natu) the majority: maior pars (ambiguous) to exaggerate a thing: in maius ferre, in maius extollere aliquid (ambiguous) to overestimate a thing: in maius accipere aliquid (ambiguous) to deteriorate: a maiorum virtute desciscere, degenerare, deflectere (ambiguous) according to the custom and tradition of my fathers: more institutoque maiorum (Mur. 1. 1) (ambiguous) what is more important: quod maius est
* maior in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎, pre-publication website, 2005-2016
* “maior”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray

## Old French
### Alternative forms

* major
* majour
* majur
* maor

### Etymology

Latin māior.

### Adjective

maior (oblique singular, nominative singular maire)
* bigger; larger
* very large

### References

* Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX$^e$ au XV$^e$ siècle (1881) (maior)
* maiur on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub

## Portuguese
### Alternative forms

* mayor (obsolete)

### Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese maior, mayor, from Latin māiōrem, from Proto-Indo-European *mag- (“great”) + *-yos (comparative suffix). Doublet of major.

### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /majˈɔʁ/ [maɪ̯ˈɔh]
* (Brazil) IPA: /majˈɔʁ/ [maɪ̯ˈɔh]
** (São Paulo) IPA: /majˈɔɾ/ [maɪ̯ˈɔɾ]
** (Rio de Janeiro) IPA: /majˈɔʁ/ [maɪ̯ˈɔχ]
** (Southern Brazil) IPA: /majˈɔɻ/ [maɪ̯ˈɔɻ]
* (Portugal) IPA: /mɐjˈɔɾ/
* (Portugal) IPA: /mɐjˈɔɾ/
** (Southern Portugal) IPA: /mɐjˈɔ.ɾi/
* Rhymes: (Portugal, São Paulo) -ɔɾ, (Brazil) -ɔʁ
* Hyphenation: mai‧or

### Adjective

maior m or f (plural maiores)
* (followed by que) comparative degree of grande; bigger, larger
    Antonym: menor
    Melancias são maiores que laranjas.Watermelons are bigger than oranges.
* (preceded by a definite article) superlative degree of grande; biggest, largest
    Antonym: menor
    Júpiter é o maior planeta do Sistema Solar.Jupiter is the largest planet in the Solar System.
* major, greater
    Antonym: menor
    um desafio maiora major challenge
* (music) major
    Antonym: menor
* (Brazil, informal) big, great
    Synonym: mó
    Ele é maior idiota...He is a big idiot

#### Derived terms

* maioria
* maiormente

### Adverb

maior
* (Brazil, informal) very, quite
    Synonyms: bem, bastante, mó
    Essa comida comida tem um gosto maior ruim.That food tastes very bad.

### Further reading

* “maior”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

## Romanian
### Etymology

Borrowed from Russian майор (major) or German Major, from Latin maior. Doublet of major and possibly mare.

### Noun

maior m (plural maiori)
* major