THE SUPERLATIVE DEGREE.
s. 326. The history of the superlative form, accurately parallel with what
has been stated of the comparative, is as follows:--
In Sanskrit there is, 1. the form _tama_, 2. the form _ishta_; the first
being the commonest. The same is the case in the Zend.
Each of these appears again in the Greek. The first, as [Greek: tat]
(_tat_), in [Greek: leptotatos] (_leptotatos_); the second, as [Greek: ist]
(_ist_), in [Greek: oiktistos] (_oiktistos_). For certain reasons, Grimm
thinks that the tat stands for _tamt_, or _tant_.
In Latin, words like _intimus_, _extimus_, _ultimus_, preserve _im_; whilst
_venustus_, _vetustus_, and _robustus_, are considered as positives,
preserving the superlative form _-st_.
Just as in _inferus_ and _nuperus_, there was the ejection of the _t_ in
the comparative _ter_, so in _infimus_, _nigerrimus_, &c., is there the
ejection of the same letter in the superlative _tim_.
This gives us, as signs of the superlative, 1. _tm_; 2. _st_; 3. _m_, _t_
being lost; 4. _t_, _m_ being lost.
Of the first and last of these, there are amongst the _true_ superlatives,
in English, no specimens.
Of the third, there is a specimen in the Anglo-Saxon _se forma_, _the
first_, from the root _fore_, as compared with the Latin _primus_, and the
Lithuanic _pirmas_.
The second, _st_ (_wise_, _wisest_), is the current termination.
Of the English superlatives, the only ones that demand a detailed
examination are those that are generally despatched without difficulty;
_viz._, the words in _most_; such as _midmost_, _foremost_, &c. The current
view is the one adopted by Rask in his Anglo-Saxon Grammar (s. 133),
_viz._, that they are {272} compound words, formed from simple ones by the
addition of the superlative term _most_. Grimm's view is opposed to this.
In appreciating Grimm's view, we must bear in mind the phenomena of _excess
of expression_; at the same time we must not depart from the current theory
without duly considering the fact stated by Rask; which is, that we have in
Icelandic the forms _naermeir_, _fjaermeir_, &c., _nearer_, and _farther_,
most unequivocally compounded of _near_ and _more_, and of _far_ and
_more_.
Let especial notice be taken of the Moeso-Gothic forms _fruma_, first;
_aftuma_, last; and of the Anglo-Saxon forms _forma_, _aftema_, aftermost;
_ufema_, upmost; _hindema_, hindmost; _midema_, midmost; _innema_, inmost;
_[^u]tema_, outmost; _sidhema_, last; _latema_, last; _nidhema_,
nethermost. These account for the _m_.
Add to this, with an excess of expression, the letters _st_. This accounts
for the whole form, as _mid-m-ost_, _in-m-ost_, &c. Such is Grimm's view.
_Furthermost_, _innermost_, _hindermost_.--Here there is a true addition of
_most_, and an excess of inflection, a superlative form being added to a
word in the comparative degree.
_Former._--Here, as stated before, a comparative sign is added to a word in
the superlative degree.
s. 327. The combination _st_ occurs in other words besides those of the
superlative degree; amongst others, in certain adverbs and prepositions, as
_among_, _amongst_; _while_, _whilst_; _between_, _betwixt_.--Its power
here has not been well explained.
* * * * *
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