Friday, May 13, 2011

Comparative and superlative adjectives and adverbs

A simple method of forming comparatives and superlatives may be the use of specific adverbs, such as magis and maxime, which Latin uses already. To express "less" and "least," one can use minus and minime.


magis pulchra - more beautiful

maxime sacra - most sacred

minus bona - worse

minime acre - least sharp


(Should I also allow the possibility for plus to be used instead of magis? One would have a nice plus/minus dichotomy.)


With the above adverb, we will not need specific endings such as -ior or -issimus/-rrimus/-llimus in most cases. The endings for the superlative ( -issimus/-rrimus/-llimus) can be complicated because they change depending on the root, and it's fitting for this language to not require it. However, the comparative ending -ior is fairly standard, and I personally would keep it as an option. In this language, the ending would be -iore.


Now there are some latin exceptions, such as the following comparatives based on prepositions. Here, both the comparative and superlative forms could be acceptable, because many of the superlative forms have independent root forms.


citeriore, citima - nearer, nearest from citra (on this side)

ulteriore, ultima - farther, last from ultra (beyond)

inferiore, infima/ima - lower, lowest from infra (below), infero (low being)

propiore, proxima - nearer, next from prope (near)

superiore, suprema/summa - upper, highest from supra (over), supero (high being)

posteriore, postrema - latter/next, hindmost from post (behind, after), postero (follower, descendant)

priore, prima - previous, first from pre- (before).

interiore, intima - inner, inmost from inter (between)

exteriore, extrema - outer, outermost from extra (outside of), extero (foreigner).


There are some irregular adjectives I'd like to maintain for the roots they bring:

meliore, optima - better, best from bona (good)

pejore, pessima - worse, worst from mala (bad)

majore, maxima - greater, greatest from magna (great)

minore, minima - less, least from parva (small)

plure, plurima - more, most from multa (much, many)

No comments: