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bhiyyoti

bhiyyo

indeclinable; nominalized comparative form + iti (quotative particle)

1. more (than); greater than (than); better than (than); superior (to)

Built from

• bahu — root · much, many
  √bṛh 'to swell, grow': cognate with Sanskrit bṛhat 'great', English bright, German Breite 'breadth'. The sense of abundance or outward swelling underlies the comparative.
• -iya/-yo — ending · comparative suffix
  Forms the comparative degree; -yo is the nominalized form, freezing it as an indeclinable marker rather than an inflected adjective.
• iti — ending · quotative particle
  Marks the boundary of reported speech or introduces the standard of comparison; the full form bhiyyoti encodes 'to a greater degree' or 'so much more'.

Analysis. bhiyyo (comparative: 'more, greater') + iti (quotative particle 'thus, so'); the form freezes a comparative adjective into an adverbial or comparative marker, often introducing a clause or comparison.

Etymology. bhiyyo is the comparative of bahu 'much, many' (√bṛh 'to grow, swell', cognate with Sanskrit bṛhat, English bright, Latin fortis). The particle iti marks reported speech or introduces the compared item. The combination grammaticalizes the comparison into a postpositive marker of superiority or excess.

Meanings from the Digital Pāḷi Dictionary; morphology and etymology by Claude.

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