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.[1]
‘hinc suamaiōrēs tribuisse vocābula Maiō tangor et aetātī cōnsuluisse suae.’
‘‘Because of this, theancestors granted their name to May, I have come to grasp, and in regard to their own old age.’’ (The museUrania claims that the month ofMay honors the ‘‘maiōrēs’’ – ‘‘ancestors’’ or ‘‘elders’’.)
^Nishimura, Kanehiro (2011), “Notes on Glide Treatment in Latin Orthography and Phonology:-iciō, servus, aiō”, inHistorische Sprachforschung / Historical Linguistics, volume124, page193:
It is well known that Latin orthography tends to avoid gemination of ⟨i⟩ for two successivei̯-glides [...] The most classic case may bemaior '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.
Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894),Latin Phrase-Book[1], 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 inRamminger, Johann (16 July 2016 (last accessed)),Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700[2], pre-publication website, 2005-2016
“maior”, inWilliam Smith, editor (1848),A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
