[lit-ideas] Re: comparative shenanigans

Hi Julie, Thanks for the query. I'm not sure, myself, so I'm pasting the  
entries in the OED, the relevant  sections on 'historical grammar' for both  
suffix -er  and 'more' as applied to adj. 
         Hope it helps, and don't  focus too much on the Middle High German 
forms! :-)
                                         JLS
 
         Re: suffix -er. In  adjs. Middle English -er, -ere (-ore, -ure),  
-re, Old English -ra (fem., neut. -re) represents two  different suffixes used 
in Old Teut. to form the compar., viz.:  (a)  -izon- (Goth. -iza, OHG., OS. 
-iro, ON. -ri with  umlaut), and (b) -ôzon- (Goth. -ôza, OHG. -ôro, ON.  -ari). 
These OTeut. suffixes are f. the adverbial -iz, -ôz. In OE. only a few 
comparatives retained the umlaut which phonetic law  requires in the (a) type. 
In 
mod.Eng. no forms with umlaut remain,  except  better, elder (OE. tera, ldra),  
the comparatives being  ordinarily formed by adding -er to the positive. The ‘
irregular  comparatives’ worse (OE. wiersa = Goth. wairsiza)  and less (OE. 
ssa) 
contain the (a) suffix in a  disguised form, and the analogy of other 
comparatives has given rise to the  extended forms worser and lesser. In 
mod.Eng. the 
comparatives  in -er are almost restricted to adjs. of one or two syllables. 
Longer  adjs., and also disyllables containing any suffix other than -y or  
-ly, having the periphrastic comparison by means of the adv.  "more"   Earlier 
writers, however, have beautifuller,  eminenter, slavisher, etc.. A few modern 
writers, e.g.  Carlyle, affect the same method. The periphrastic form is 
admissible (esp. in  predicative use) for all adjs., even monosyllables, which 
are 
not extremely  common colloquially. In   hinder, inner, the comparative 
suffix, though in WGer. and ON.  formally  coincident with that treated above, 
is 
quite distinct in origin,  repr. OTeut. -eron-, f. OAryan -ero-. In adverbs. 
The 
OE. form of the comparative suffix  was -or, corresp. to OS., OHG. -ôr, Goth. 
-ôs:OTeut. -ôz. OTeut. had also a  suffix -iz with the same function, 
corresponding to L. -is in  magis, nimis, and cogn. with L. -ior of adjs.; it 
is  
represented by Goth. -is, ON. -r with umlaut; in OE. by the umlaut  in 
monosyllabic comparatives like ng:*langiz longer, t:*batiz better, which died 
out in  
early ME., being superseded by the adj. forms. The relation between the two  
OTeut. suffixes is much disputed: a widely-held hypothesis is that -ôz is  f. 
-ô 
adverbial suffix + -iz. The advbs. which take -er in  the comparative are 
chiefly those which are now identical in form with adjs.  (either repr. OE. 
advbs. 
in -e, or modern adverbial uses of the adj.):  e.g. ‘to work harder’, ‘to 
stand closer’. Exceptional instances  are oftener, seldomer, sooner. The advbs. 
in -LY are now compared periphrastically  with more, though in earlier writers 
the inflexional comparison is  common, e.g. easilier = more easily, ME. 
entierlocure = more  entirely; in poetry it still occurs, as in keenlier 
(Tennyson). 
            Re: the  "more" construction, it is cognate with Old Frisian ra, 
Middle Dutch re (Dutch has the double comparative  meerder), Old Saxon ro 
(Middle Low German r, also re, ), Old High German ra, ro (German (arch.) mehr- 
in  
mehres, neuter, mehre, plural; cf. German mehrere (plural)  several), Old 
Icelandic meiri, Norn (Shetland) mire, mere  (also adverb mire), Swedish mera, 
Danish mere (the Swedish  and Danish forms are the neuter adjective used 
adverbially), Gothic maiza  < an adjectival base parallel to the adverbial base 
of MO 
adv.1 Cf. the following  adverbial forms in West Germanic languages, either  
influenced by or secondary developments from the adjectival  forms: Old 
Frisian r, r, Dutch meer, Old Saxon r (Middle Low German r, re), German  mehr). 
Use 
of the neuter adjective as noun and  as adverb is rare in Old English, as  
(see MO adv.1 and  discussion s.v.)  was usual in both  applications. The 
construction expresses the  comparative degree corresponding to modern  English 
great, much, and many respectively. The other constructions should be compared 
with 
earlier MO a.1 1, MO. The adverbial  use with an adjective or adverb 
developed  into the form of the comparative. With most  adjectives and adverbs 
of more 
than one syllable,  and with all those of more than two  syllables, this is 
the normal mode of forming  the comparative. A few monosyllables  (e.g. real, 
right, wrong, just) normally form their comparatives in this way  instead of 
taking the suffix -er. [Traces of  periphrastic comparison are found in Old  
English in the use of ma, bet, and <NOor with participles and occas. with 
adjectives. Periphrastic comparison of adjectives and adverbs with more (and 
for the 
superlative most: see MOST adv.) is found from early  Middle English, although 
only sporadically before the 14th cent. Unlike modern  usage, in Middle 
English periphrastic comparison is more common with monosyllabic or disyllabic 
adjectives than with adjectives of three or  more syllables, although it is 
less 
common  than comparison with -er (or  -most) for adjectives of any  length in 
Middle English; the development of  the modern distribution is illustrated by 
the  frequency with which formation of the  comparison of adjectives with three 
or more  syllables with -er rather than with more is criticized in 18th-cent. 
and later  normative grammars. It is uncertain to what  extent the emergence 
of periphrastic  comparison in English was influenced by  analogy with French 
comparison with plus and le plus or Latin comparison with magis and  maxime; 
confusion between and  subsequent identity of form of MOST a. and superlatives 
in -MOST may  also have aided the process. Modifying monosyllabic and  
disyllabic adjectives and adverbs which have otherwise an inflected comparative 
 in 
-er, e.g. busy, high, slow, true. This form is often now used either for  
special emphasis or clearness, or to preserve a balance of phrase  with other 
comparatives with ‘more’,  or to modify the whole  predicate rather than the 
single adjective or  adverb, esp.  when followed by than. 

    J. L. Speranza,
    Buenos Aires, Argentina.




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