FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91  
92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   >>   >|  
st_. (2) In Old English, evil was the positive to _worse_, _worst_; but later _bad_ and _ill_ were borrowed from the Norse, and used as positives to the same comparative and superlative. _Worser_ was once used, a double comparative; as in Shakespeare,-- O, throw away the _worser_ part of it.--HAMLET. (3) Little is used as positive to _less_, _least_, though from a different root. A double comparative, _lesser_, is often used; as,-- We have it in a much _lesser_ degree.--MATTHEW ARNOLD. Thrust the _lesser_ half by main force into the fists of Ho-ti. --LAMB. (4) The words much and many now express quantity; but in former times _much_ was used in the sense of _large_, _great_, and was the same word that is found in the proverb, "Many a little makes _a mickle_." Its spelling has been _micel_, _muchel_, _moche_, _much_, the parallel form _mickle_ being rarely used. The meanings _greater_, _greatest_, are shown in such phrases as,-- The _more_ part being of one mind, to England we sailed.--KINGSLEY. The _most_ part kept a stolid indifference.--_Id._ The latter, meaning _the largest part_, is quite common. (5) The forms elder, eldest, are earlier than _older_, _oldest_. A few other words with the vowel _o_ had similar change in the comparative and superlative, as _long_, _strong_, etc.; but these have followed _old_ by keeping the same vowel _o_ in all the forms, instead of _lenger_, _strenger_, etc., the old forms. (6) and (7) Both nigh and near seem regular in Modern English, except the form _next_; but originally the comparison was _nigh_, _near_, _next_. In the same way the word high had in Middle English the superlative _hexte_. By and by the comparative _near_ was regarded as a positive form, and on it were built a double comparative _nearer_, and the superlative _nearest_, which adds _-est_ to what is really a comparative instead of a simple adjective. (8) These words also show confusion and consequent modification, coming about as follows: further really belongs to another series,--_forth_, _further_, _first_. First became entirely detached from the series, and _furthest_ began to be used to follow the comparative _further_; then these were used as comparative and superlative of _far_. The word far had formerly the comparative and superlative _farrer_, _farrest_. In imitation of _further_, _furthest_, _th_ came into the others, making the modern _far
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91  
92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

comparative

 

superlative

 

double

 
lesser
 
positive
 

English

 
mickle
 

series

 

furthest

 

earlier


regular
 

Modern

 

comparison

 

originally

 

eldest

 
oldest
 

modern

 

similar

 

strong

 
keeping

change

 
strenger
 

lenger

 

making

 

farrest

 

belongs

 

imitation

 
modification
 

coming

 

farrer


detached

 

follow

 

consequent

 

confusion

 

nearer

 

nearest

 

regarded

 

Middle

 

adjective

 

simple


phrases

 

degree

 

MATTHEW

 

ARNOLD

 

Thrust

 

Little

 
borrowed
 

worser

 

HAMLET

 

Shakespeare