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CHAPTER 27

"Special and Irregular Comparison of
Adjectives"


The title of this chapter says it all: some adjectives in Latin
form their comparative and superlative degrees irregularly.  But
don't panic.  The irregularities are entirely limited either to the
stem of the adjective uses in the comparative and superlative
degrees, or to the way the comparative or superlative endings are
attached to the stem.  The irregularities do not affect the way the
adjectives decline in the comparative or superlative degrees.  You
already have experience with irregular comparison in lots of
English adjectives:

           good           better          best
           bad            worse           worst
           little         smaller         smallest
           much (many)    more            most

If you take a close look at the degrees of these adjectives you can
see that for all of them the stem is changed from the positive to
the comparative and superlative degrees.  It's not "good, gooder,
goodest", because English substitutes another stem in place of the
one you would expect if you were thoughtlessly following the rules
that apply to the regular adjectives.  Now look more closely.  Even
though the stems have changed, you can still often see the regular
comparative and superlative endings "-er" and "-est" attached to
the irregular stem.

ADJECTIVES WITH IRREGULAR STEMS

The positive degree of the adjective meaning "good" is "bonus, -a,
-um", a first and second declension adjective.  To form the
comparative degree, you use another stem, "mel-", to which you add
the comparative adjectival ending "-ior, -ius".  Review the
comparative endings "-ior, -ius" from Chapter 26 if you have to and
decline the adjective "melior, -ius".

               MASCULINE AND FEMININE             NEUTER

           N/V.    _______________            _______________

           Gen.    _______________            _______________

           Dat.    _______________            _______________

           Acc.    _______________            _______________

           Abl.    _______________            _______________


           N/V.    _______________            _______________

           Gen.    _______________            _______________

           Dat.    _______________            _______________

           Acc.    _______________            _______________

           Abl.    _______________            _______________

     There was really no reason for you to decline this adjective.
It follows precisely the same pattern as the regular comparative
degree.  I just want you to believe that the irregular comparative
degree isn't completely irregular: its irregularity is limited to
the stem it uses and does not affect its declension at all.

     Perhaps you have some bad feelings already about all the new
forms you're going to have to memorize.  There's no escaping the
hard fact that you will have to memorize three forms for irregular
adjectives, but there's a way to ameliorate the problem.  These
irregular stems often are the roots are English words, so if you
learn the English derivatives, it will much easier to fix the
irregular stems in your memory.  For example, from the stem "mel-"
we get the English verb "ameliorate",  which means "to make better,
improve".

     Let's move on now to the superlative degree of the adjective
"bonus, -a, -um": it's "optimus, -a, -um".  Obviously we get the
English words "optimist", "optimal", "optimum", and others from
this stem, but notice that the superlative degree simply uses the
"-us, -a, -um" endings without the "-issim-" infix which the
regular adjectives use.  You'll have no problem adjusting to this.
Here are some more irregular adjectives with a few comments.

            POSITIVE            COMPARATIVE          SUPERLATIVE

         magnus, -a, -um       maior, maius       maximus, -a, -um
             (great)             (greater)           (greatest)

The comparative degree "maior" will look more familiar if you add
a tail to the intervocalic "-i-": "major".  (A Major is greater
than a Captain.)  Remember, now, that even though it looks a little
odd, "maior" will decline quite normally: maioris, maiori, etc.,
with "ma-" as the stem.

            POSITIVE            COMPARATIVE          SUPERLATIVE

         malus, -a, -um        peior, peius       pessimus, -a, -um
              (bad)               (worse)              (worst)

Use the same trick with the intervocalic "-i-" in "peior".
"Pejorative" means "derogatory, disparaging", from the Latin sense
of "worse".

            POSITIVE            COMPARATIVE          SUPERLATIVE

         parvus, -a, -um       minor, minus       minimus, -a, -um
             (small)             (smaller)           (smallest)

The comparative degree looks odd: the adjectival ending "-ior,
-ius" seems to be missing.  It's there; only the "-i-" is missing.
You decline "minor, minus" as you normally would, but just leave
the "-i-" off.  Try it:

               MASCULINE AND FEMININE             NEUTER

     N/V.          _______________            _______________

     Gen.          _______________            _______________

     Dat.          _______________            _______________

     Acc.          _______________            _______________

     Abl.          _______________            _______________


     N/V.          _______________            _______________

     Gen.          _______________            _______________

     Dat.          _______________            _______________

     Acc.          _______________            _______________

     Abl.          _______________            _______________


            POSITIVE            COMPARATIVE          SUPERLATIVE

        superus, -a, -um      superior, -ius      supremus, -a, -um
             (above)             (higher)              (last)

                                                   summus, -a, -um
                                                      (highest)

     The only peculiarity of this adjective are the two superlative
degrees which are derived from it.  "Summus" means "highest", and
so does "supremus", but "supremus" can also mean "last".  Think of
it this way.  We're stand at the bottom of a long ladder that's
extending upward.  The object which is the highest on the ladder is
the "last" we would reach as we ascend.  So Latin can say "supremo
die" (on the last day).  The point is, both "summus" and "supremus"
can mean "highest", but "supremus" often can have the extended
meaning "last".

            POSITIVE            COMPARATIVE          SUPERLATIVE

           (pro, prae)          prior, -ius        primus, -a, -um
            (before)         (prior, previous)         (first)

     The adjectives "prior" and "primus" are comparative and
superlative degrees of an adjective that doesn't exist in the
positive degree.  "Pro" and "prae" are prepositions, not
adjectives, and they can mean "before".

            POSITIVE            COMPARATIVE          SUPERLATIVE

         multus, -a, -um      plus, pluris (n)    plurimus, -a, -um
          (much; many)         plures, plura      (very many; most)
                                  (more)

     The chief difficulty with this adjective, as you can see,
comes in the comparative degree.  In the singular of the
comparative, the adjective "multus" becomes a neuter noun "plus,
pluris (n).  It isn't an adjective at all.  It's a noun which means
"more".  Latin uses it with a genitive case of the noun: "plus
pecuniae" (more of money).   Like this:

                N/V.      plus       pecuniae  (more money)
                Gen.      pluris          pecuniae   (of more money)
                Dat.      -----           -----
                Acc.      plus       pecuniae  (more money)
                Abl.      plure           pecuniae   (by/with more
money)

     In the plural, however, the word for "more" becomes an
adjective, and declines just as you would expect a normal third
declension adjective to decline.  One set of forms for the
masculine and feminine, and one for the neuter:

                          MASCULINE AND FEMININE     NEUTER

                N/V.            plures               plura
                Gen.            plurium              plurium
                Dat.            pluribus             pluribus
                Acc.            plures               plura
                Abl.            pluribus             pluribus

     There is a distinction to be maintained between "plus, pluris,
(n)" and "plures, plura".  The adjective "multus, -a, -um" means
"much" or "many", and these two words, "much" and "many" are not
interchangeable in English.  We use the adjective "much" when we're
talking about something which can't be counted up individually; we
use "many" when it can.  For example, we say "much mud", or "much
money".  It would sound odd to say "many muds" or "many moneys".
We could possibly say "many muds" we're mudologists and we're
talking about many different kinds of muds around the world:
Chinese mud, Korean food, French mud, and so on.  In this case the
mud types would in fact be countable, and the adjective "many"
would be appropriate: "There are many muds in the world today.
Some tan, some yellowish, and others which are completely black".
 Conversely, we wouldn't say "much towels", "much rivers", or "much
people", because these are objects which are countable.  Latin uses
the singular neuter noun "plus, pluris" when referring to
uncountable objects, and the adjective "plures, plura" when
referring to countable objects.  "Plus aeris" (more [of] bronze),
and "plures homines" (many people).

SUPERLATIVE DEGREE OF ADJECTIVES IN -R

To form the degrees of regular adjectives, you simply add "-ior,
-ius" or "-issimus, -a, -um" to the stem of the adjective.  The
stem, you remember, is the form you see in all the forms of the
adjective except for the masculine nominative singular.  When the
adjective ends in "-r" in the nominative masculine singular,
however, the superlative degree does something slightly different.
These rules hold true for all adjectives which end in "-r", not
just for a chosen few.  Let's look at a couple of examples:

                pulcher, -chra, -chrum
                liber, -a, -um
                acer, acris, acre
                celer, celeris, celere

The comparative degree of these adjectives is quite regular.  You
simply use the stem with the comparative suffix "ior, -ius"
attached.

       POSITIVE                      COMPARATIVE

pulcher, -chra, -chrum          ____________________

liber, -a, -um                  ____________________

acer, acris, acre               ____________________

celer, celeris, celere          ____________________


But to form the superlative degree of these adjectives you do two
things: (1) use the masculine nominative singular as the stem, and
(2) add the suffix "-rimus, -a, -um".  Thus, according to step (1),
even if the true stem of the adjective lacks the "-e-" before the
"-r", you build the superlative degree from a base ending in "-er".
Adding the suffix "-rimus, -a, -um", you end up with a doubled "r".
So for the adjective "piger, -a, -um" (slow), the superlative
degree is "pigerrimus, -a, -um"  Now write out the superlative
degree of these adjectives.

       POSITIVE                      SUPERLATIVE

pulcher, -chra, -chrum          ____________________

liber, -a, -um                  ____________________

acer, acris, acre               ____________________

celer, celeris, celere          ____________________


SOME ADJECTIVES ENDING IN -LIS

There are six adjectives in Latin ending in "-lis, -e" which have
a oddity in the formation of the superlative degree.  Wheelock
concentrates on only three.  The irregularity of these adjectives
is that the suffix "-limus, -a, -um" is used in place of "-issimus,
-a, -um".  The comparative degree, however, is entirely regular.
Form the degrees of the three adjectives which use this irregular
suffix in the superlative, then compare them to three other
adjectives in "-lis, -e" which use the regular superlative suffix.
(Remember, this irregularity is limited to only six adjectives
ending in "-lis, -e".  All other adjectives ending in "-lis, e"
form their comparisons regularly.)

     POSITIVE              COMPARATIVE               SUPERLATIVE

1.   Irregular

     facilis, -e         _______________           _______________

     similis, -e         _______________           _______________

     difficilis, -e      _______________           _______________

2.   Regular

     mollis, -e          _______________           _______________
     (soft)

     mortalis, -e        _______________           _______________
     (mortal)

     fidelis, -e         _______________           _______________
     (loyal)


VOCABULARY PUZZLES

appello (1)               This verb in the passive voice is a
                          copulative verb, linking the subject to a
                          predicate nominative.  "He is called
                          Brutus" would be "Appellatur Brutus", not
                          "Brutum".

maiores, -ium (m)         Obviously this noun is derived from the
                          comparative adjective for "magnus, -a,
                          -um".  Used as a noun in the plural, it
                          means "the greaters in age" or the
                          "ancestors".

similis, -e               It takes the dative case as its
                          complement.  "Hoc non simile illi" (This
                          is not similar to that.)

