Theme: The main features of the Noun and the Adjectives in the Middle English period Contents: Introduction

Degrees of comparison
The adjective in Middle English changed its forms not only to show the relation of the given adjective to other words in the sentence which was expressed by the gender, number and case of the adjective, but also to show the degree of the quality denoted by the adjective, i.e. the forms of the adjective in Modern English could expressed degrees of comparison. The degrees of comparison were expressed, the same as all other grammatical notions, synthetically, namely:

• 
  by means of suffixation:
  

heard – heardra – heardost (hard)

• 
  by means of vowel gradation plus suffixation:
  

eald – ieldra – ieldest (old)

• 
  by means of suppletive forms
  

Зōd – bettra – betst (good)
the first means being unquestionably the most common.
Both suffixation and the use of superlative forms in the formation of the degrees of comparison are original means that can be traced back to Common Germanic. But the use of vowel interchange is a feature which is typical of the English language only and was acquired by the language in the pre-historic period of its development.²⁴
The origin of vowel gradation in the forms: eald – ieldra – ieldest is a result of the process of palatal mutation which the root-vowel ea underwent under the influence of the original stem-forming suffix –i, ie. ²⁵
In Middle English, adjectives had different forms depending on the gender, number, and case of the noun they modified. The declension of adjectives in Middle English was similar to that of nouns, with different endings for each case. Here is an example of the declension of the adjective "good" in Middle English:


Singular:

Masculine	good	gode	good	good
Feminine	gode	gode	gode	gode
Neuter	good	gode	good	good

Plural:

Masculine and Feminine	gode	gode	gode	gode
Neuter	gode	gode	gode	gode

As you can see, the endings of the adjective "good" change depending on the gender, number, and case of the noun it modifies. This was a common feature of many Indo-European languages, including Modern English, Latin, and Greek.

The degrees of comparison were formed by means of the suffix «-er», «-est» (instead of the OE «-ra», «-ost»): gret - gretter - grettest. ²⁶
Some adjectives retain the OE i- umlaut, while forming the degrees of comparison: old - elder - eldest; strong - strenger - strengest. At the end of the Middle English period there appeared the analytical means of forming the degrees of comparison, that is, with the help of the words «more» and «most». Some of the adjectives formed the degrees of comparison of different roots: muchel - more - mõst, mēst; litel - lasse - lēst; evil - werse - werst; gõd - bettre - best. ²⁷