4.2. Degrees of comparison of adjectives

Like adjectives in other languages, most OE adjectives distinguished between three degrees of comparison: positive, comparative and superlative. The comparative degree was formed from the positive with the help of the suffix –ra; the superlative degree was characterized with the suffix -est/ost. Sometimes suffixation was accompanied by an interchange of the root-vowel often caused by mutation (see Table 3.11).

Table 3.11

Comparison of Adjectives in Old English

Means of form-building	Positive	Comparative	Superlative	NE
Suffixation	soft wēri	softra wērira	softost wēriost	soft weary
Suffixation plus vowel interchange	læd lon eald (also:	lædra lenra ieldra ealdra	ladost lenest ieldest ealdost, ealdest)	glad long old
Suppletion	ōd lýtel micel	bettra læssa māra	bet(e)st læst mæst	good little much

Some adjectives had suppletive forms. Suppletion was a very old way of building the degrees of comparison (it can be illustrat­ed by the forms of adjectives in other IE languages: G gut, besser, best; Fr mal, pire; R xopoший, лучше).

5. Conclusions: Peculiarities of the nominal system in oe

1. The grammatical system of OE differs much from that of Mod E but had much in common with the other Germanic languages. Oe was a highly inflected language.

2. All the nominal parts of speech – nouns, adjectives, pronouns – were declined in OE. Every part of speech had its own inflection. The noun, pronoun and adjective had the same grammatical categories, the main difference being in the quantity of the categorical forms of number (three number forms in personal pronouns) and case (four case-forms – nouns and five case-forms personal pronouns and adjectives).

3. The pronominal and adjectival paradigm were more developed than the system of declensions of nouns, they were richer in the number of word-forms.

4. The homonymity of forms, although existing (especially in the declension of the definite adjective) is not so pronounced and the oppositions berween word-forms are more evident.

5. The subdivision within the system of each part of speech was based on the difference in the material forms (the noun – based on the original stem-suffix, the pronoun – the number of categorical forms, the adjective – strong and weak declensions with the functional difference).