+Remark+.--_More beautiful, most beautiful_, etc. can hardly be called
degree forms of the adjective. The adverbs _more_ and _most_ have the
degree forms, and in parsing they may be regarded as separate words. The
adjective, however, is varied in sense the same as when the inflections
_er_ and _est_ are added.
Degrees of diminution are expressed by prefixing _less_ and
_least_[Footnote: This use of an adverb to form the comparison was borrowed
from the Norman-French. But note how the adverb is compared, The Saxon
superlative ending +st+ is in _most_ and _least_; and the Saxon comparative
ending +s+, unchanged to +r+, is the last letter in _less_--changed to +r+,
as it regularly was, in coming into English, it is the _r_ in _more_.
When it was forgotten that _less_ is a comparative, _er_ was added, and we
have the double comparative _lesser_--in use to-day.
After the French method of comparing was introduced into English, both
methods were often used with the same adjective; and, for a time, double
comparatives and double superlatives were common; as, _worser_, _most
boldest_. In "King Lear" Shakespeare uses the double comparative a dozen
times.]; as, _valuable_, _less valuable_, _least valuable_. Most
definitive and many descriptive adjectives cannot be compared, as their
meaning will not admit of different degrees.
Pages:
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360