This paper explores a case of constructional borrowing in the Modern Greek language — the Modern Greek constructional phraseme Πιο Χ πεθαίνεις (lit., “more X you die”), which is a phraseological calque of the respective French (Plus X que Y, tu meurs) and Italian constructions (Più X di Y si muore).

Constructional phrasemes (CPhs) constitute productive patterns consisting of an idiomatic fixed component and a non-idiomatic variable component. The fixed component is reproduced in speech as a prefabricated language unit and determines the typical meaning of the construction, while the variable component is not lexically specified and is inserted into the construction depending on the context or the speaker’s intention. Though the typical meaning of a CPh is only determined by its fixed component, a CPh can become a complete utterance to express a complete thought after its variable component position is filled. The fixed component imposes certain semantic constraints on the fillers of the open slot.

Based on the data of Modern Greek text corpora, internet texts, and social networks messages, we make an attempt to determine the time when the CPh Πιο Χ πεθαίνεις emerged in Modern Greek. In order to see if the construction has undergone any changes in the course of its migration to Greek from Italian and/or French, we separately analyze the structure, the open slot fillers, and the functioning of the construction in Modern Greek, French, and Italian.

It is demonstrated that the borrowed construction has retained its original typical meaning. In the three languages, it typically denotes a high degree of a quality or the maximum manifestation of a characteristic of an object/person/state. It has also retained the semantic restrictions set by its fixed component for open slot fillers. At the same time, in the course of its borrowing, the construction has been reduced formally while enhancing its productivity and ability to form combinations with other language units.