scearpe sweord the sharper sword, and se scearpeste sweord= the sharpest sword. The second, on the other hand, was the form taken by adverbs; as, se sweord scyrd scearporthe sword cuts sharper, and se sweord scyrð scearpost=the sword cuts sharpest.

The adjectival form has, as seen above, a tendency to make the vowel of the preceding syllable small; old, elder.

The adverbial form has a tendency to make the vowel of the preceding syllable full.

Of this effect on the part of the adverbial form the adverbial comparative rather is a specimen. We pronounce the a as in father, or full. Nevertheless, the positive form is small, the a being pronounced as the a in fate.

The word rather means quick, easy the classical root padin pádios. What we do quickly and willingly we do preferably. Now if the word rather were an adjective, the vowel of the comparative would be sounded as the a in fate. As it is, however, it is adverbial, and as such is properly sounded as the a in father.

The difference between the action of the small vowel in -re, and of the full in -or, effects this difference.

§ 360. Excess of expression. Of this two samples have already been given: 1. in words like songstress; 2. in words like children. This may be called excess of expression; the feminine gender, in words like songstress, and the plural number, in words like children, being expressed twice over. In the vulgarism betterer for better, and in the antiquated forms worser for worse, and lesser for less, we have in the case of the comparatives, as elsewhere, an excess of expression. In the Old High-German we have the forms betsëróro, méróro, érërëra better, more, ere.

§ 361. Difference between a sequence in logic and a sequence in etymology.--The ideas or notions of thou, thy, thee, are ideas between which there is a metaphysical or logical connection. The train of such ideas may be said to form a sequence, and such a sequence may be called a logical one.

The forms (or words) thou, thy, thee, are forms or words between which there is a formal or an etymological con

may

nection. A train of such words be called a sequence, and such a sequence may be called an etymological one.

In the case of thou, thy, thee, the etymological sequence tallies with the logical one.

The ideas of I, my, and me are also in a logical sequence: but the forms I, my, and me are not altogether in an etymological one.

In the case of I, my, me, the etymological sequence does not tally (or tallies imperfectly) with the logical one.

This is only another way of saying that between the words I and me there is no connection in etymology.

It is also only another way of saying, that, in the oblique cases, I, and, in the nominative case, me, are defective.

Now the same is the case with good, better, bad, worse, &c. Good and bad are defective in the comparative and superlative degrees; better and worse are defective in the positive; whilst between good and better, bad and worse, there is a sequence in logic, but no sequence in etymology.

§ 362. It is necessary to know that in the Moso-Gothic the comparative degree was formed differently from the comparative degree in Anglo-Saxon, English, and the other allied languages. Instead of being formed by the addition of the sound of -r, it was formed by the addition of the sound of

In the latter stages of language this s became r.

In the word worse we may suppose that there is a remnant of the old comparative in -s or -z. The Moso-Gothic form is váirsiza, the Anglo-Saxon vyrsa.

The following forms help to illustrate the history of the difficult word:

Mœso-Gothic, vairsiza; Old High-German, wirsiro; Middle High-German, wirser; Old Saxon, wirso; Anglo-Saxon, vyrsa ; Old Norse, vërri; Danish, værre; and Swedish, värre. Such

are the adjectival forms. The adverbial forms are- -MœsoGothic, vairs; Old High-German, virs; Middle High-German, wirs; Anglo-Saxon, vyrs; Old Norse, vërr; Danish, værre; Swedish, värre.-GRIMM, D. G. iii. 606. Whether the present form in English be originally adjectival or adverbial is indifferent; since, as soon as the final a of vyrsa was omitted, the two words would be the same. The forms, however, vairsiza, wirser, worse, and vërri, make the word one of the most perplexing in the language.

If the form worse be taken without respect to the rest, the view of the matter is simply that in the termination s we have a remnant of the Moso-Gothic forms, like sutiza, &c., in other words, the old comparative in s.

Wirser and vairsiza traverse this view. They indicate the likelihood of the s being no sign of the degree, but a part of the original word. Otherwise the r in wirser, and the z in vairsiza, denote an excess of expression.

The analogies of songstress, children, and betsësróro show that excess of expression frequently occurs.

The analogy of má and bet show that worse may possibly be a positive form.

The word verri indicates the belief that the s is no part of the root.

Finally, the euphonic processes of the Scandinavian languages tell us that, even had there been an s, it would, in all probability, have been ejected. These difficulties verify the statement that the word worse is one of the most perplexing in the language.

Much, more.-Here, although the words be unlike each other, there is a true etymological relation. Moso-Gothic, mikils; Old High-German, mihhil; Old Saxon, mikil; AngloSaxon, mycel; Old Norse, mickill; Scotch, muckle and mickle (all ending in 7); Danish, megen, m.; meget, n.; Swedish, mycken, m.; myckett, n. (where no 7 is found). Such is the adjectival form of the positive, rarely found in the Modern Gothic languages, being replaced in German by gross, in English by great, in Danish by stor. The adverbial forms are miök and miög, Norse; much, English. It is remarkable

that this last form is not found in Anglo-Saxon, being replaced by sáre, Germ. sehr.-GRIMM, D. G. iii. 608.

The adverbial and the Norse forms indicate that the 7 is no part of the original word. Comparison with other IndoEuropean languages gives us the same circumstance: Sanskrit, maha; Latin, mag-nus; Greek, péyas (megas).

There is in Moso-Gothic the comparative form máiza, and there is no objection to presuming a longer form, magiza; since in the Greek form μείζων, compared with μέγας, there is a similar disappearance of the g. In the Old High-German we find mero, corresponding with máiza, Moso-Gothic, and with more, English.

Mickle (replaced by great) expresses size; much, quantity; many, number. The words more and most apply equally to number and quantity. I am not prepared either to assert or to deny that many, in Anglo-Saxon manig, is from the same root with much. Of the word má notice has already been taken. Its later form, moe, occurs as late as Queen Elizabeth, with an adjectival as well as an adverbial sense.

Little, less.-Like much and more, these words are in an etymological relation to each other. Maso-Gothic, leitils; Old High-German, luzil; Old Saxon, luttil; Anglo-Saxon, lytel; Middle High-German, lützel; Old Norse, lítill. In these forms we have the letter l. Old High-German Provincial, luzíc; Old Frisian, litich; Middle Dutch, luttik; Swedish, liten; Danish, liden. - Deutsche Grammatik, iii. 611. From these we find that the 7 is either no part of the original word, or one that is easily got rid of. In Swedish and Danish there are the forms lille and liden; whilst in the neuter form, lidt, the d is unpronounced. Even the word liden the Danes have a tendency to pronounce leen. My own notion is that these changes leave it possible for less to be derived from the root of little. According to Grimm, the Anglo-Saxon lässa is the Gothic lasivóza, the comparative of lasivs weak.-Deutsche Grammatik, iii. 611. In Anglo-Saxon there was the adjectival form lassa, and the adverbial form læs. In either case we have the form s.

Near, nearer. -Anglo-Saxon, neah; comparative, nearre,

near, nyr; superlative, nyhst, nehst. Observe, in the AngloSaxon positive and superlative, the absence of the r. This shows that the English positive near is the Anglo-Saxon comparative nearre, and that in the secondary comparative nearer, we have an excess of expression. It may be, however, that the r in near is a mere point of orthography, and that it is not pronounced. The fact that in the English language the words father and farther are, for the most part, pronounced alike, is the key to the forms near and nearer.

Farther.-Anglo-Saxon, feor, fyrre, fyrrest. The th seems euphonic, inserted by the same process that gives the & in ἄνδρος.

Further.-Confounded with farther, although in reality from a different word, fore. Old High-German, furdir; New HighGerman, der vordere; Anglo-Saxon, fyrðre.

Former. A comparative formed from the superlative; forma being such. Consequently, an instance of excess of expression, combined with irregularity.