Superlative

In grammar the superlative of an adjective or adverb indicates that a member of a set transcends the other members in some way. For example, if Adam is 45, Bess is 35, and Chris is 25, Adam is the oldest of the three, because his age transcends those of Bess and Chris in one direction, while Chris is the youngest, because his age transcends those of Adam and Bess in the other direction. If Dan, who is 50, and Edna, who is 20, join the group, Dan now becomes the oldest and Edna the youngest.

Some prescriptive grammars hold that when comparing only two entities in edited writing or formal oratory, use of the superlative should be avoided: if the group contained only Adam and Bess, Adam would be "the older", while Bess would be "the younger." The superlative degree used of two is often found in informal writing and speech. In addition, the superlative can also refer to a group of one, such as an offer for auction to the "highest bidder" in which only one bid is received, although this might be corrected to the "high bidder" given that no other bids would exist to be compared with.

The superlative in English

In English, the superlative and the comparative are created by inflecting adjectives or adverbs. The structure of a superlative consists normally of the positive stem of the adjective or adverb, plus the suffix -est, or (especially in longer words) the modifier "most" or "least" before the adjective or adverb. It always has the definite article and is completed by "of" or other preposition plus one or more nouns of entities that it surpasses to the highest or greatest degree, such as in "he is the tallest of/in the class", or "the town is the most beautiful town in the country".

Mention should be made also of the elative, which is not an actual separate inflection but the intensified degree of adverbs and adjectives. Adjectives at the elative do not refer to other objects, like a superlative does; e.g. "she is very beautiful"; "she is most beautiful" (intensification in this case means "very beautiful indeed").

Superlatives in other languages

Romance languages

In contrast to English, in the grammars of most romance languages the elative and the superlative are joined into the same degree (superlative), which can be of two kinds: comparative (e.g. "the most beautiful") and absolute (e.g. "very beautiful").

French: The superlative is created from the comparative by inserting the definitive article (la, le, or les) before "plus" or "moins" and the adjective determining the noun. For instance: Elle est la plus belle femme â†' (she is the most beautiful woman); Cette ville est la moins chère de France â†' (this town is the least expensive in France).

Spanish: Either use más and the adjective, or modify the adjective by adding ísimo, ísima, ísimos or ísimas, depending on the gender or number.

Italian distinguishes comparative superlative (superlativo relativo), and absolute superlative (superlativo assoluto).

For the comparative superlative it uses the word "più" between the article and the adjective, like "most" in English.

For the absolute superlative it uses either "molto" and the adjective or modifies the adjective by taking away the final vowel and adding issimo (singular masculine), issima (singular feminine), issimi (plural masculine), or issime (plural feminine). For example:
*Quell'aereoplano è velocissimo'' â†' That airplane is very fastThere are some irregolar forms for some words ending in "-re" and "-le" derivating from latin word ending in "-er", and "-ilis" that have a superlative form similar to the latin one. In the first case words lose the ending "-re" and the gain the endings errimo (singular masculine), errima (singular feminine), errimi (plural masculine), or errime (plural feminine); in the second case words lose the "-le" endind and gain illimo (singular masculine), illima (singular feminine), illimi (plural masculine), or illime (plural feminine), the irregolar form for words ending in "-le" is very rare and exists only in the arcaic or literary language. For example:
*"Acre" (acer in latin) that means acrid, becomes "acerrimo" ("acerrimus" in latin).
*"Simile" (similis in latin) that means "similar", becomes "simillimo" ("simillimus" in latin).

Celtic languages

Scottish Gaelic: When comparing one entity to another in present or future tense, the adjective is changed by adding an e to the end and i before the final consonant(s) if the final vowel is broad. Then, the adjective is preceded by nas to say "more," and as to say "most." (The word na is used to mean than.) Adjectives that begin with f are lenited. Nas and as use different syntax constructions. For example:
Tha mi nas àirde na mo pheathraichean. â†' I am taller than my sisters.
Is mi as àirde. â†' I am the tallest.

As in English, some forms are irregular, i.e. nas fheàrr (better), nas miosa (worse), etc.

In other tenses, nas is replaced by na bu and as by a bu, both of which lenite the adjective if possible. If the adjective begins with a vowel or an f followed by a vowel, the word bu is reduced to b'. For example:
Bha mi na b' àirde na mo pheathraichean. â†' I was taller than my sisters.
B' e mi a b' àirde. â†' I was the tallest.

Welsh is similar to English in many respects. The ending -af is added onto regular adjectives in a similar manner to the English -est, and with (mostly) long words -mwyaf precedes it, as in the English most. Also, many of the commonest adjectives are irregular. Unlike English, however, when comparing just two things, the superlative must be used, e.g. of two people - John ydy'r talaf (John is the tallest).

See also

*comparative, greatness
*:Category:World superlatives

References

# Language Log, May 30, 2005. On superlative of groups of one or two.