Adjectives & Adverbs

At a glance

The key differences between Early Middle English (eME) and Modern English (ModE):

1. <e> is added to an adjective before plural nouns;
2. <e> is added to an adjective after the definite article, demonstrative adjectives and possessive pronouns;
3. an adverb is generally formed by adding <e> to the corresponding adjective;
4. final <h> (/x/) becomes <g> (/G``/ or /J`/) when <e> is added;
5. <e> is not added where the adjective ends in <e>;
6. the comparative ending for adjectives is ~ere (but for adverbs is ~er);
7. ~er(e) and ~est are added to all adjectives and adverbs to form the comparative and superlative;
8. ma__re and ma__st are not used to form comparatives.

adding <e> to adjectives

Adjectives ending in a consonant add an <e> in the following circumstances:

• when accompanying a plural noun or pronoun - t`ey% alle sungen, t`ey% sungen alle imaen Orm, Alle hi__ waeren forsworen, T`a__ diden hi__ alle wunder<sup>1</sup>, and go__de men PC2
• when representing a plural noun or pronoun - and he__ dide alle in prisun PC2, gre__tinges to__ alle his holde PH3
• when used with the definite article t`e, a demonstrative adjective t`is or t`at, a possessive pronoun such as hire or u__re, or a name or term of address - t`e ilke pi__ning PC2, his wi__de throte AW

Final <h> (/x/) becomes <g> (/G``/ or /J`/) when <e> is added, e.g. a__n he__h berh vs t`e he__ge berh.

forming adverbs with <e>

In ModE, adverbs are generally formed from adjectives, by adding ~ly. In ME the corresponding ending is <e>. Hence ModE bold boldly is equivalent to ME ba__ld ba__lde.

Where the adjective ends in <e> or is both adjective and noun, the adverb may be formed by adding ~liy%e or ~li__ke, e.g. derne derneliy%e/derneli__ke.

The adverbial use of the genitive case of nouns is also common in ME. Examples are day%es (daily) and t`ankes (willingly).

~liy% and ~ly

The ending ~liy% is generally used to form adjectives from nouns. For example ~liy% is added to the nouns li__f, lufe, hefen and ert`e to form the adjectives li__fliy%, lufeliy%, hefenliy% and ert`liy%

~liy% is just one of a range of endings used in eME to form adjectives from nouns: -liy%, -li__k, -iy%, -ful, -sum i.a. which correspond to ModE -ly, -like, -y, -ful, -some.

~liy% and li__k are essentally variants of the same suffix in eME. The two are interchangeable.

Note that although ModE -ly is usually thought of as an adverbial ending, it can also be added to a noun to form the corresponding adjective, e.g. lively, lovely, heavenly and earthly.

comparison of adjectives and adverbs

The endings for comparative and superlative respectively, are as follows:

• adjective: -ere and -est
• adverb: -er and -est

Thus eME marks the distinction between comparative adjective and adverb: t`is werk is hardere (t`an t`at werk) vs sce__ wircet` harder (t`an he__ wircet`).

There is no such distinction between superlative adjective and adverb, unless the adjective accompanies a plural noun or follows a definite article, demonstrative adjective or possessive pronoun: t`is is t`e hardeste werk vs sce__ wircet` hardest.

Adjectives with final <er> tend to drop the <e> in this syllable before adding the comparative ending. Hence wi__s wi__sere wi__sest but fay%er fay%rere fay%erest.

The main difference between eME and ModE in respect of comparatives is that eME -er(e) and -est are used with all adjectives and adverbs. In ModE, the comparative and superlative forms of most adjectives and adverbs with two or more syllables are formed with more and most. Hence ModE more wonderful and most wonderful whereas eME is content with wunderfulere and wunderfulest.

root alternation

A few comparative and superlative adjectives are built on a root different from that of the positive (base form). The following will be familiar to ModE speakers but there are differences, some more substantial than others:

no alternation

The ModE series far further furthest displays root alternation.

In contrast, the corresponding eME comparative and suplerlative are formed regularly from the adjective: fer ferrere ferrest

"of all"

of all in ModE expression such as best of all, first of all, worst of all etc, appears as a prefix in ME - alre-.

Hence alrebetst, alrefirst, alrelaest, alrele__fest etc