Category of Degrees of Comparison
Degrees of comparison is the only set of forms
which the adjective has preserved through all historical periods.
However, the means employed to build up the forms of the degrees of
comparison have considerably altered.
OE adjectives distinguished between three degrees
of comparison: positive, comparative and superlative. The regular
means used to form the comparative and the superlative degrees from
the positive were the suffixes -ra and
-est, -ost, -ist, -ast, -ust. Sometimes
suffixation was accompanied by root vowel interchange.
Comparison of Adjectives in Old English:
Suffixation: soft - softra - softest (soft)
Suffixation plus vowel interchange: lonʒ
- lenʒra
- lenʒest
(long)
Suppletion: ʒod
- bettra - betest (good)
