simplification of adjective paradigms in eME

wa-, wo_-stems in OE

In OE there was alternation in u/o/w throughout the paradigm of a handful adjectives including nearu (narrow) and g`earu (ready, prepared). According to Wright ¹⁰: "§ 435 ... w became vocalized to u (later o) when final and before consonants in prehistoric OE. (§ 265); whence masc. nom. sing., neut. nom. ace. sing, gearu from [PGmc] *garw-az, -an ... § 436. Like gearu are declined basu, beasu, purple; calu, bald; cylu, spotted; fealu, fallow; geolu, yellow; hasu, heasu, grey, tawny ; mearu, tender; nearu, narrow; salu, sealu, dusky, dark."

These adjectives had stem endings that fluctuated between <u> (or <o>) and <w> throughout the strong declension paradigm:

The paradigms for basu, calu, cylu, fealu, g`earu, g`eolu, hasu, mearu are similar.

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wa-, wo_-stems in PC2 and Orm

Both PC2 and Orm have reflexes of OE nearu. PC2 has nareu sg strong while Orm has naru sg strong and narrwe pl. Lmn and AW mirror the PC2 form with nearow AW sg strong, nearewe AW sg weak, narewe Lmn sg weak.

Note that PC2 doesn't use the character <w>. The sound /w/ is routinely rendered as <u>. Given that the MED contains a few examples of strong singular forms with final <ew> (or <ow>), including AW nearow, the appropriate transcription of PC's final <eu> in eME is <ew>.

The reduction in complexity for the reflexes of adjective like nearu in eME, will produce a similar paradigm to that of go__d (see above). If we follow Orm, the sole difference we can expect for this type is that in the strong singular, the final <-w> of the stem becomes a <-u> (in the absence of a following <e>). If we follow PC2, Lmn & AW on the other hand, the resulting paradigm will not differ at all from the standard paradigm:

In the next section I'll investigate the reflexes of wa-, wo_-stem adjectives recorded in the MED prior to 1250, together with a few examples from later East Midland sources, e.g. Ch, before deciding the final shape of the paradigms in question, for both the core and optional eME grammar.

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wa-, wo_-stems in the MED

The following is a list of extracts from the MED, one for each of the wa-, wo_-stems found in OE (see above). These extracts focus on pre-1250 sources. I've inserted notes which I'll unpack in the following section.

basu, baswa

no MED entry

calu, calwa (caluw)

MED calwe

1230 Henricus..Willelmum le Calewe acc, weak (as expected) - name or term of address, NB -ewe; [1327 Gilbertus Calwe post-1250 but note weak (as expected)]

> ModE callow

cylu, cylwa (cylew)

no MED entry

MED related forculien darken by scorching

AW related forculet, forculiende not forcwul~ - supports kile as weak?

fealu, fealwa (fealewe)

MED falwe

Lmn ueldes falewe nom pl strong; Owl 1300 falew icumeþ of grene leue nom sg strong, NB -ew; [Ch falow nom sg strong, post-1250 but note -ow, twigges, falwe, rede and grene pl]

> ModE fallow

g`earo, g`earwa (g`earu, g`earowes)

MED ya_re

VH 1150 gearewe acc pl? NB -ew; BH 1175 y`earu nom sg strong; LH 1225 y`aru nom sg strong; AW y`arow nom sg strong, y`arowe pl?; 1250 y`eruh nom sg strong; Lmn y`eaerwe nom sg strong?, y`arewe/y`aerewe pl, y`aeru/y`aru/y`are/y`ar nom sg strong; 1250 gere/gare nom sg strong; PC1 gare nom sg strong; Owl y`arewe pl, y`are pl; NB - removal stem alternation pre-1250; Ch yare pl

> ModE yare

g`eolu, g`eolwa (g`elewum, g`ealewe)

MED yelwe

HA 1200 y%eoluwe blostma strong pl, NB -uwe; AW t`enne is hit y`eolow nom sg strong, NB -ow; LH 1225 t`e y`eolewe clad` weak, NB -ewe; TH 1200 hire winpel … maked geleu mid saffran nom sg strong, NB -eu - cp PC2 nareu; LH 1225 y`eluwe froggen pl, NB -uwe; 1175 Florentius: Geolofincg note -o where weak expected - combining form?; [Ch yelowe gooldes, nayles yelwe pl, post-1250 but note -owe]; 1159 Yolegreue note -e where weak expected - combining form?; 1221 Christina la Gelewe weak (as expected) - name, NB -ewe

> ModE yellow

hasu, haswa

no MED entry

MED related haswed dark in color, dusky,

ME *haswy, *hasi > ModE hawsey naut. > hazy?

mearu, mearwa (mearuwe)

MED meruw(e) no forms with stem vowel <a>

HA 1200 y%if t`anne t`e lichama mearuw si nom sg strong, NB -uw, hi beod` mearuwran cmp pl, y%enim t`a wyrt swa mearwe pl acc; AW hwil ha beod` mearewe nom pl strong, NB -ewe

nearu, nearwa (nearewe, nearewum, nearuwe)

MED narwe

PC2 caest t`at was... nareu nom sg strong, NB -eu; Orm t`att illke child... wass ley%y%d inn an full naru cribbe (f acc) sg strong, note -u where -we might be expected for f acc but all cases are merged in nom, narrwe stiy%hess pl (strong); PM 1175 Go we t`ane narewe pad` acc sg weak, NB -ewe; Lmn i t`on weie narewe (m acc) sg weak, NB -ewe; AW t`e parlurs least & nearewest nom pl (weak?), NB -ew-, t`et sterke dom... & se nearow nom sg strong (se = swa__), NB -ow te nearewe nom sg? weak, NB -ewe, t`ah y`e nearowe beon nom pl strong, NB -owe; 1250 t`ene neruwure ende of t`e horne acc sg cmp weak, NB -uw-; [Ch This clyfte was so narw sg strong, NB -w, narwest sup]; Tristrem 1300 t`e way was naru sg strong, NB -u

> ModE narrow

sealu, sealwa

MED salu

1400 salowe nom sg strong - earliest entry in MED

> ModE sallow

observations

What can we conclude from this?

1. Keep in mind that what we are looking for is either:
   1. <w> appearing at the end of the stem in a singular noun in a strong context, i.e. in the absence of a definite article, demonstrative adjective or possessive pronoun; or
   2. <w> dropped from a plural noun (in any context) or from a singular noun in a weak context, i.e. in the presence of a definite article, demonstrative adjective or possessive pronoun.
2. There is corroboration beyond PC2, AW and Lmn for the type narew narewe, i.e. a strong sg form ending in <-ew> and a weak/pl form ending in <-ewe>. This removal of stem alternation in found in six adjectives in pre-1250 sources.
3. Forms with an epenthetic vowel before <w> such as calewe, falew, falow, y`eoluwe, y`eolow, y`eolewe, y`eluwe, yelowe, Gelewe, meruw(e), mearuw, mearewe, narewe, nearewe are very common⁵. In fact they predominate. And they appear in the earliest MED examples, which is not surprising since the epenthetic vowel dates from the OE period: caluw, cylew, fealewe, g`earowes, g`elewum, mearuwe, nearewe i.a.
4. The case of y%are y%are in which the <w> is dropped entirely, appears to be unique. ⁶

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loss of alternation in wa-, wo_-stems in eME

The key, particularly in regard to the early stages of learning a language, is to offer the simplest route. This is where principles 3 & 4 come into play. The upshot is that while OE wa-, wo_-stems have a dual stem, their reflexes in the core grammar of eME, have a single stem.

In normalising the reflexes of wa-, wo_-stems, the approach is as follows:

1. we start with an adjective paradigm that we would expect to exhibit stem alternation, e.g. naru nar(e)we or y%aru y%ar(e)we;
2. in a pre-1250 text we find a form which removes the stem alternation for either the sg strong or weak/pl; e.g. naru sg strong > narew sg strong and y`ar(e)we pl > y`are pl;
3. via principle 3 the stem levelling of one form (e.g. pl) is extended to the remaining form (e.g. sg weak) within the paradigm; so y`are pl is extended to y`are sg weak;
4. courtesy of principle 4, the paradigm levelling of the majority of wa-, wo- stems can be extended to the remaining few words in that group; e.g. the narew narewe pattern is extended to salew salewe etc;

Thus we have:

pre-1250 removal of stem alternation:

1. <w> absent throughout: y`are pl

2. <w> in all forms: falew nom sg strong, y`eolow nom sg strong, [geleu nom sg strong], mearuw nom sg strong, nareu nom sg strong, nearow nom sg strong, [nerewe acc sg strong]³, caluw, cylew nom sg strong

via principle 3 - extend removal of stem alternation throughout paradigm:

y%are y%are, falew falewe, y%elew y%elewe, marew marewe, narew narewe, calew calewe, kilew kilewe⁴

via principle 4 - extend pattern of simplified paradigm to entire group:

salew salewe

special cases - via principle 4 but without ModE reflex:

basew basewe, hasew hasewe

The precise form of the ending in the reflexes of wa-, wo_-stems in the core grammar, i.e. <ew-> rather than <ow-/uw-> is determined by PC2, one of the two primary eME sources, with the support of Lmn, AW and Owl.

And that leads us back to the paradigms presented above for Orm on one hand and for PC2, Lmn and AW, on the other. This time they are rebranded as optional grammar and core grammar:

Similarly: falew, y%elew, marew, calew, kilew, salew, basew, hasew

The sole exception is:

See also the closely related wa- and wo_-stem nouns.

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irregular adverbs in OE and ME

The following sections deal with adverbs which are not formed simply by adding <e> to the corresponding adjective in OE. Some involve i-mutation (aka umlaut) in the adjective but not the adverb. Much of this irregularity was lost in the late Mercian dialect of OE. In others, no <e> was added to the stem.

no <e> added to the adverb

A few adverbs in OE had no final <e>. Several of these are adverbs of place which have similar forms in the ModE reflex: feorr (far), he_r (here), t`ae_r (there)

One OE/eME adverb without final <e> which would not be familiar to ModE speakers is: ae_r adv > aer adv > early (beforehand) adv

One ModE adverb, which is indistinguishable from the corresponding adjective, differs from its eME predecessor in that respect: lang adj lange adv > la__ng adj la__nge adv > long adj/adv

i-mutation in the adjective

Wright ¹¹ lists certain OE adjective-adverb pairs in which the adjective displays i-mutation while the adverb does not. These forms merged in lOE, if not before. Clark Hall ¹³ and Bosworth Toller list both sme_t`e and smo_t` as adjectives. In AW smed`e appears as both adjective and adverb. Orm has smet`e adj. The earliest entry for smo__t` adj in the MED is from SO 1330.

Similar is so_fte which is listed as both adjective and adverb in Clark Hall, along with se_fte adj. The latter adjectival form is displaced by softe in eME. Orm has soffte adj while PC2, Lmn, AW and Owl all have softe adj. The MED has 303 entries for softe adj against 2 for sefte adj.

Clark Hall lists enge anxious as both adjective and adverb, and ange as a variant which redirects to enge. Orm has ange adj, without support from a second eME source, while the MED records no instances of enge . Note that ange doesn't qualify as an additonal eME form.

Clark Hall lists swo_t as an adjective with adverbial counterpart swo_te along with swe_te adj and swe_tli_ce adv. swote is an adjective in both AW and Ch with corresponding adverb swoteliche in AW. Orm has swet as adjective and swete as adverb while AW and Owl have swete adj. Note that Orm's adjectival form without <e> isn't supported by a second eME source.

The upshot is that the core eME grammar uses sme__t`e adj/adv, softe adj/adv, enge adj/adv, and swe__te adj/adv.

In additon, the optional grammar uses the eME forms inherited from standard OE forms: smo__t` adj, smo__t`e adv, swo__t adj, and swo__te adv.

adverbs ending in -unga

Some of these survive to eME, e.g. fae_runga suddenly, unexpectedly > BH 1175 feringe. However in most cases, if not all, a form ending in -like/liche with similar meaning, is more common, e.g. Orm faerlike, PC1 fearlice, AW ferliche, Lmn faerliche, 1250 ferlike.

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irregular comparatives in OE and ME

In OE most adjectives form the comparative and superlative with -ra and -ost respectively, e.g. bli_t`e happy > bli_t`ra happier, bli_t`ost happiest.

The comparative and superlative of adverbs were formed by adding -or and -ost respectively, e.g. faeg`ere fairly > faeg`ror more fairly, faeg`rost most fairly.

i-mutation

In OE, a small number of adjectives had i-mutation (aka umlaut) in their comparative forms. The most common of these are listed below, together with a selection of corresponding forms from the MED as well as the forms used in the core and optional eME grammars of this site:

bra_d, brae_dra/bra_dra, bra__dost

1300/1400 braddere, 1350/1384/1400 bradder, Ch brodder

core: bra__dere (< ModE broader + OE var bra_dra)

optional: braedre

eald, ieldra; A ald, aeldra, aeldest (lOE A a_ ae_ ae_)

PM 1200 elder (alder/eldre), Lmn eaeldre (elder), 1225 eldest, 1250 eldere, Ch elder

core: eldere

optional: eldre

feorr, fierra/fyrra, fierresta

PC1 firrer, AW firreste (e) w, (1198/1228 ferre w,) Ch ferreste w

core: ferrere

optional: firre

g`eong, g`ingra (ie), g`ingest

PC1 gingre (lone <i> form in MED), Orm y%unngre, Lmn y`engestte (y`eongeste), 1250 gungere

core: y%ungere

optional: y%ingre

gre_at, gri_etra (MED: WS gry_ttra, A gre_ttra), gri_etest

Lmn greatere/graetere/grettere/graettere, AW grettre/greattre, 1300 grettere, Ch gretter, grettest

core: graetere

optional: grettre

lang, lengra, lengest

Orm lenngre adv, AW lengre, Lmn lengre lengere, HR 1175 laengre, VV/TH 1200 lengere, 1250 lengre adv, GE 1250 lengere adv; note - no langere/longer pre-1250

core: lengere

optional: lengre

sc`ort (eo/y), sc`yrtra, sc`yrtest

MED: scort/sceort, sceortra/scyrtra; BT: scort, scyrtre/sceortran and scortostan (note - scyrtre is more common);

VH 1150 scyrtre, HR 1175 sceortre (/o/?); next earliest cmp with <e> is 1335 schorter; it seems most likely that OE positive had /o/ vowel while comparative had /y/, though shert occurs 2/3 times in MED

core: scortere (< ModE shorter + pre-1250 sceortre)

optional: scirtre

strang, strengra, strengesta; adv strange, strangor, strangost

MED lOE: strengere

PC2 strengere, Lmn strengeste, AW strengre, Owl strengur, Ch strenger(e); no pre-1250 stronger/strangere cmp; earliest are Lmn 1300 strangere, Hav strangest, 1325 stranger and 1340 Ayb stranger

core: strengere

optional: strengre

The upshot is that only eldere, lengere and strengere retain the i-mutation in the core grammar. Five other adjectives - bra__d, fer, y%ung, graet and scort, retain the i-mutation in comparative forms in the optional grammar.

adverbs

The list of irregular comparatives in eME is shorter for adverbs. According to Wright ¹², OE had five adverbial comparative forms with mutated stem vowel and no ending: e_at`e i_et` e_at`ost (easily, more easily, most ~), feorr fi(e)rr/fyr(r) fi(e)rrest/fyrrest (far, further, furthest), lange leng lengest (long, longer, longest), so_fte se_ft softly, more softly, and tulge tylg tylgest (firmly, more firmly, most ~). Two others - he_ah he_ar and ne_ah ne_ar are dealt with in the next section. Another pair have no positive form - ae_r formerly, si_t` later.

The following comparative adverbs are recorded in the MED for each of the OE adverbs indicated above:

1. ed`ere, eid`er, aed`, ed`
2. fir, firre, fer(re), ferrer, feor(re), feorror, forre, forror, fur(re), far(re), farrer, ver, verror; sup. first, ferrest
3. leng
4. softer
5. -

Notes for each of these comparative adverbs:

1. In texts dated before 1250 we find: TH 1200 ed`ere, PM 1250 eid`er which could be considered regular comparative formations from aet`e adv. Both have an ending and a stem which is indistinguishable from that of the comparative adjective found in Lmn 1300 et`ere adj cmp. Compare also AW et` adj. Comparative adverbial forms without an ending are BH 1175 aed` and Lmn 1200 aed`/ed`. The core grammar form that emerges via Principle 3 is aet`er. In the absence of an additional eME form and the lack of clear indication regarding i-mutation in this comparative form in early East Midland, the optional grammar form is inherited from the standard OE form: e__t`.
2. No ferrer adv cmp forms are recorded before 1250. The earliest are recorded in 1338 and 1350. 1338 and 1378 sources have ferrere. Note the later East Midland forms: Ch ferre, Pearl 1380 fyrre and Cl 1380 firre adv cmp, which feature i-mutation in two cases. Compare also Owl 1216 forre, Lmn 1300 vorre, 1300 furre, 1335/1350 ferre, 1300/1338/1350 farre and Gaw 1390 firre adv cmp. Without an additional eME form, the optional grammar inherits fir from OE. Note that Clark Hall doesn't make clear which of three variants (see above) should be considered the standard OE form. The eME form could be either fir or fer. The 14th century East Midland texts - Pearl and Cloud of Unknowing, nudge the decision in favour of the former.
3. leng is well represented in the MED (36 quotations), from PC1 1121 to 1450. PC2, Lmn, Owl and Ch all have an instance of leng. Since longer adv cmp does appear in the MED as early as 1250, leng passes to the optional grammar only.
4. seft adv cmp is missing in the MED. A search for 'seft' in the general search turns up only seft adj (2 quotations). Within softe adv, a browser search for the string 'seft' returns empty. There are however two instances of softer in that same page, dated 1378 and 1450 respectively. Ordinarily this form would be disregarded, since both ME sources fall after our cut-off year - 1250 (see Principles 2b and 3). The clincher is an OE variant softor adv cmp recorded in Boswell Toller. With the support of ModE, softer adv cmp qualifies an additional eME form, but the pre-1250 date alone allows it to pass to the core grammar via Principle 3. Meanwhile the optional grammar inherits seft adv cmp from the standard OE form.
5. Given the absence of an entry for tulge or tilg in the MED, the optional grammar inherits tulge tilg tilgest from OE.

The five adverbs discussed above constitute, in the words of Principle 4: "a distinct group of words with shared characteristics". Pursuing this line, the degrees of comparison of an adjective or adverb are a grammatical pattern akin to the paradigm of an adjective or noun. So we can apply Principle 3 - "anomalies are excluded from the core eME grammar when evidence of levelling exists in a paradigm (or similar grammatical pattern) in a text dated before 1250". Hence three of the five comparative adverbs above: aet`er, la__nger, softer emerge via Principle 3, with corresponding superlative forms: aet`est, la__ngest, softest. The anomalies of i-mutation in the stem vowel and no ending are removed. The standard comparative and superlative endings - -er and -est are added to the positive form. The pattern of these three comparative adverbs can then be applied to the remaining two in the group via Principle 4: ferrer ferrest, tulger tulgest.

The upshot is as follows:

• Core grammar: aet`er, la__nger, softer, ferrer, tulger
• Optional grammar: e__t`, leng, seft, fir, tilg

stems with final <h>

he_ah, hi_ehra/hi_erra/he_ahra, hi_ehst (e_a/e_/y_)

Orm hehre, hehy%h`esst, PC1 hihste, Lmn hey`ere haehste, AW herre hehest, Ch heyy`ere heyy`est

core: he__gere, he__gest

optional: he__hre, he__hst

ne_ah, ne_ara, ni_ehst (A ne_h ne_orra ne_hst)

Orm nerre, Lmn nexte, AW neorre, nexte, 1200 ney`est, Ch ne(e)r, next(e)

core & optional: ne__rre, ne__hst

The divergence between the comparative forms of ModE high and nigh begins in eME. ModE has higher highest but near next (rather than *nigher *nighest)⁷. It's a similar story in eME. The lone regular comparative form for ne__h in the MED prior to 1250 is ney`est which is clearly outnumbered by the contracted comparatives of the main eME sources - ne(o)rre and next(e). More importantly, Principle 3 would not allow *ne__y%ere *ne__y%est in the core grammar, because the <e> of the comparative endings is also dropped in the ModE reflexes - near⁸ and next⁹. Note that the waters are a little muddied here by the fact that in ModE the commonly used positive form is the former comparative - near, which has spawned a new pair of comparatives - nearer and nearest. Nevertheless, the comparatives are contracted in eME.

In short, ne__h replaces the final consonant of the stem (<h/g>) with an <r> in the comparative and drops the <e> of the suffix in the comparative and the superlative. This applies to both the core and optional grammars. he__h drops the <e> of the suffix in the superlative, in the optional grammar only.

adverbs

The comparatives of the corresponding adverbs are dealt with in similar fashion with similar results:

he_ah, he_ar/he_gur BT, hi_ehst

Orm hey%h`esst, Lmn haxst, Owl herre, Ayb 1340 hey`ere, hey`est, Ch heyest/hyest

core: he__ger, he__gest

optional: he__r, he__hst

ne_ah, ne_ar, ni_ehst (A ne_h ne_or ne_hst)

Orm ner, Lmn/AW neor, AW nest, Owl ne(o)r, Ch ne(e)r, next

core & optional: ne__r, ne__hst

the suffixes ~lic` ~licra ~licost and ~li_c`e ~licor ~licost

The suffix used most often to form adjectives in OE was ~lic`. Examples are ae_nlic` (unique), a_nlic` (solitary), c`ildlic` (infantile), cynelic` (royal), daeg`lic` (daily), de_adlic` (deadly), ealdlic` (venerable), forhtlic` (afraid), fre_ondlic` (friendly), g`earlic` (yearly), g`esinsc`iplic` (conjugal), heofonlic` (heavenly), hetelic` (hostile), loflic` (praiseworthy), luflic` (loving, amiable, kind), mennisc`lic` (human), mae_rlic` (famous), nytlic` (useful), sto_wlic` (local), ti_dlic` (temporary), wi_flic` (womanly). This suffix is closely related to li_c` (body), g`eli_c` (similar, alike) and li_cian please, appeal.

The first thing to note is the divergence in sound of the stem-final consonant between the positive and comparative forms. ~lic` has /tS`/, a voiceless postalveolar affricate, while ~licra and ~licost have /k/, a voiceless velar plosive.

The second thing to note is the apparent lengthening of the vowel in the adverbial form derived from ~lic` in OE: ~li_c`e. At least that is the indication in Clark Hall and in several OE readers, primers and introductory course books. On the other hand Boswell Toller has either a short or long vowel in the adjectival suffix, e.g. eort`li_c`, ae_nli_c` but heofendlic`¹⁴, while Wright has a bet each way with a combined breve and macron diacritic for adverbs with the suffix ~li_c`e, e.g. craeftlī̆ce. The MED indicates a long vowel for OE adjectives in ~lic`, e.g. craeftli_c.

The eME forms that emerge from these standard OE forms after eME sound and spelling changes are applied (see table X), are the adjectives: ~lic ~licre ~likest and the adverbs: ~li__ce ~liker ~likest. These are the forms listed in the optional grammar. Examples are luflic luflicre luflikest adj, lufli__ce lufliker luflikest adv, and hefenlic hefenlicre hefenlikest adj, hefenli__ce hefenliker hefenlikest adv.

The core grammar on the other hand has two similar and interchangeable adjectival suffixes: ~liy% and ~li__k which form their comparatives regularly by the addition of ~ere and ~est. Forms such as ert`liy% and hefenli__k appear in Orm and other eME sources and presage the ModE forms earthly, heavenly and childlike etc. The corresponding adverbs are formed regularly, by adding an <e> to the positive: ~liy%e and ~li__ke, and ~er and ~est to the comparative and superlative: ~liy%er ~liy%est and ~li__ke ~li__kest. Examples are lufliy% lufliy%ere lufliy%est adj, lufliy%e lufliy%er lufliy%est adv, and hefenli__k hefenli__kere hefenli__kest adj, hefenli__ke hefenli__ker hefenli__kest adv. A third form, inherited from OE and supported by most eME sources is ~li__c, which shares its comparative forms with li__k.

~liy% and ~lic/like in Orm

The following adjectives and adverbs plucked from the MED show us how the suffixes ~liy% and ~li__k were written in Orm and also give us a useful guide to their pronounciation in Orm's dialect:

adjectives in ~liy%

ert`liy%, wreccheliy% adv?

adjectives in ~lic

eort`lic

adjectives in ~like

day%y%whammlike pl, hefenlike dat

adverbs in ~liy%

hefiy%liy%, blit`eliy%, opennliy%, haet`eliy% (scornfully < ON), innwarrdliy%, daerneliy%

adverbs in ~like

clennlike, lay%h`elike, innwarrdlike, day%y%whammlike, forrwurrt`ennlike (feebly, ineffectually), blit`elike, wisslike, lihhtlike, daernelike

The vowel in Orm's ~lic is long. If it were short we would see *~licc. That distinction is a key feature of Orm's consistent spelling scheme. That same spelling scheme tells us that the final consonant in Orm's ~lic represents /k/, a voiceless velar plosive. If it were /tS`/, a voiceless postalveolar affricate, we would see *~lich.

Further notes:

• Orm uses both ~liy% and ~lik(e) to form adjectives and adverbs, apparently interchangeably;
• ~liy%, apparently derived form ON ~ligr qualifies as an addtional eME form (see Principle 2) by virtue of its presence in Orm and Ch (as well as SO);
• ~li_k also qualifies as an addtional eME form (see Principle 2) by virtue of its presence in ModE and a pre-1250 source (Orm);

~lic, ~lich(e) and ~ly in other eME sources

• PC2 ~lic
• Lmn ~lic ~lich, ~liche adv
• AW ~lich, ~liche adv
• Owl ~lich
• SO ~li ~ly ~lich
• Ch ~ly ~lich

The most common form of this adjectival suffix in the eME sources is ~lich. The PC2 form probably represents /li:tS`/, but although final <c> after a front vowel is generally palatalised in PC2, we can't discount the possibility that it represents /k/ here. Bear in mind that in PC2 <ch> represented /G``/.

Given the two additional eME forms, the core grammar has three similar adjectival suffixes - li__c, li__k and liy%, the first two of which share comparative forms.

The optional grammar, on the other hand, has only lic with lengthened vowel in its positive adverbial form (see table below).

Comparatives of ~liy% and ~li__k in MED sources

• VH 1150 treowlicre adj cmp, wunderlicre adj cmp
• BH 1175 merlucor (adv < OE mae_rli_ce)
• VV 1175 od`erliker, WBR 1225 od`erlicor adv
• PM 1175 od`erluker adv, wunderlukeste adj sp
• HA 1200 nit~liy`re cmp adj
• TH 1200 grisluker, AW (SWard) 1200 grisluker cmp adj
• AW 1200 dearnluker, dimluker, creftluker cmp adv
• WA 1225 sed`lices adv sp (or error for ~er?)
• WBR 1225 t`esy`elicere adj cmp (or dat of t`esy`elic?)
• SL 1300 reulikere cmp adv, grislikere cmp adj
• Pearl & Gaw 1390 loueloker, StG 1390 louelokeste, PPI 1387 louelokest

According to Boswell-Toller, these comparative suffixes had a long root vowel in OE, e.g. so_d`li_cor adv cmp so_d`li_cost adv sp, cym-li_cor, wundorli_cra, wundorli_cost, loffli_cere

at a glance

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