cer, cris, crecrior, criusTwo groups of adjectives, which are otherwise regular, have peculiar forms in the superlative:
I. Six adjectives ending in -lis form the superlative by adding -limus, -lima, -limum to the base.
| Positive | Comparative | Superlative |
| fácilis, -e (easy) | facílior, -ius (easier) | facíl-limus, -a, -um (easiest) |
| diffīcilis, -e | difficílior, -ius | difficíllimus, -a, -um |
| (difficult) | (more difficult) | (most difficult) |
| símilis, -e (like) | simílior, -ius (more 1.) | simīllimus, -a, -um (most 1.) |
Dissimilis (unlike, dissimilar), gracilis (slender, thin), and humilis (low, humble) follow this same pattern; all other -lis adjectives have regular superlatives (e.g., fidēlissimus, ūtilissimus, etc.).
II. Any adjective which has a masculine in -er, regardless of the declension, forms the superlative by adding -rimus directly to this masculine -er, not to the base; note that the comparatives of -er adjectives are formed regularly, by adding -ior, -ius to the base (which, as you know, in some cases retains the -e- and sometimes drops it).
| Positive | Comparative | Superlative |
| līber, -bera, -berum | lībérior, -ius | lībér-rimus, -a, -um |
| (free) | (freer) | (freest) |
| púlcher, -chra, -chrum | pūlchrior, -ius | pulchérrimus, -a, -um |
| (beautiful) | (more beautiful) | (most beautiful) |
| cer, cris, cre |
crior, crius |
ācérrimus, -a, -um |
| (keen) | (keener) | (keenest) |
More important from the consideration of frequency of appearance are a few adjectives which are so irregular in their comparison that the only solution to the difficulty is memorization. However, English derivatives from the irregular forms greatly aid the memorization (see the Etymology section below). A list of the most useful of these adjectives follows.
None of the irregular forms offers any declensional difficulty except plūs. In the plural plūs functions as an adjective (e.g., plūrēs amīcī), but has mixed i-stem and consonant-stem forms (-ium in the genitive plural but -a, not -ia, in the neuter nominative and accusative); in the singular it functions not as an adjective at all, but as a neuter noun which is commonly followed by a genitive of the whole (e.g., plūs pecūniae, more money, lit. more of money—see Ch. 15).
dēlecttiō, dēlectāti
nis, f., delight, pleasure, enjoyment (delectation, delectable, delicious, dilettante; cp. dēlectō, dēlicia, delight)
népōs, neptis, m., grandson, descendant (nephew, nepotism, niece) sōl, slis, m., sun (solar, solarium, solstice, parasol)
d
ligēns, gen. dīligéntis, diligent, careful (diligence, diligently)
dissímilis, dissímile, unlike, different (dissimilar, dissimilarity, dissemble)
grácilis, grácile, slender, thin (gracile)
húmilis, húmile, lowly, humble (humility, humiliate, humiliation; cp. humus, Ch. 37)
máior, máius, comp. adj., greater, older; mairēs, mairum, m. pl., ancestors (i.e., the older ones; major, majority, etc.—see Etymology below).
prmus, -a, -um, first, foremost, chief, principal (primary, primate, prime, primeval, primer, premier, primitive, prim, primo-geniture, prima facie, primordial, primrose)
quot, indecl. adj., how many, as many as (quota, quotation, quote, quotient)
símilis, símile, + gen. or dat., similar (to), like, resembling (similarly, simile, assimilate, dissimilar, dissimilarity, simulate, dissimulate, verisimilitude, assemble, resemble, simultaneous; cp. same)
súperus, -a, -um, above, upper; súperī, -rum, m. pl., the gods (superior, etc.; cp. superō and see Etymology below)
tilis, tile, useful, advantageous (what Latin is to YOU!—utility, from ūtilitās, -tātis; utilitarian, utilization, utilize; cp. ūtor, Ch. 34) All the irregular adjectival forms given above in this lesson.
pnō, pnere, pósuī, pósitum, to put, place, set (See Etymology at end of chapter.)
próbō (1), to approve, recommend; test (probe, probate, probation, probative, probable, probably, probability, approbation, proof, prove, approve, approval, disprove, improve, reprove, reprobate; cp. probitās)
Quisque cupit quam pulcherrima atque ūtilissima dōna dare.
Quīdam turpēs habent plūrima sed etiam plūra petunt.
Ille ōrātor, ab tyrannō superbissimō expulsus, ducem iūcundiōrem et lēgēs aequiōrēs dehinc quaesīvit.
Summum imperium optimīs virīs semper petendum est.
Senex nepōtibus trīstibus casam patefēcit et eōs trāns līmen invītāvit.
Ostendit hostēs ultimum signum lūce clārissimā illā nocte dedisse.
Iste tyrannus pessimus negāvit sē virōs līberōs umquam oppressisse.
Fidēlissimus servus plūs cēnae ad mēnsam accipiēbat quam trēs peiōrēs.
Aiunt hunc auctōrem vītam humillimam hīcagere.
Cūr dī superī oculōs ā rēbus hūmānīs eō tempore āvertērunt?
Habēsne pecūniam et rēs tuās prae rē pūblicā?
Sōlem post paucās nūbēs gracillimās in caelō hodiē vidēre possumus.
Some believe that very large cities are worse than very small ones.
In return for the three rather small gifts, the young man gave even more and prettier ones to his very sad mother.
Those very large mountains were higher than these.
Trahit mē nova vīs: videō meliōra probōque, sed peiōra tantum faciō et nesciō cūr. (Ovid.)
Quaedam carmina sunt bona; plūra sunt mala. (Martial.)
Optimum est. Nihil melius, nihil pulchrius hōc vīdī. (Terence.)
Spērō tē et hunc nātālem et plūrimōs aliōsquam fēlīcissimōs āctūrum esse. (Pliny.—nātālis [diēs], birthday.)
Quoniam cōnsilium et ratiō sunt in senibus, maiōrēs nostrī summum concilium appellāvērunt senātum. (Cicero.—concilium, -i
, council.)
Plūs operae studiīque in rēbus domesticīs nōbīs nunc pōnendum est etiam quam in rēbus mīlitāribus. (Cicero.—opera, -ae, work, effort.—domesticus, -a, -um.—mīlitāris, -e.)
Neque enim perīculum in rē pūblicā fuit gravius umquam neque ōtium maius. (Cicero.)
Sumus sapientiōrēs illīs, quod nōs nātūram esse optimam ducem scīmus. (Cicero.—optimam, f. by attraction to the gender of nātūram.)
Nātūra minimum petit; nātūrae autem sē sapiēns accommodat. (*Seneca.—accommodāre, to adapt.)
Maximum remedium īrae mora est. (*Seneca.)
Quī animum vincit et īram continet, eum cum summīs virīs nōn comparō sed eum esse simillimum deō dīcō. (Cicero.—comparāre, to compare.)
Dion
sius, tyrannus urbis pulcherrimae, erat vir summae in vīctū temperantiae et in omnibus rēbus dīligentissimus et ācerrimus. Īdem tamen erat ferōx ac iniūstus. Quā ex rē, sī vērum dīcimus, vidēbātur miserrimus. (Cicero.—Dionysius, ruler of Syracuse in the 4th cen. B.C.—vīctus, -ūs, mode of life.—temperantia, -ae.—in-iūstus, -a, -um, unjust.—Quā ex rē = Ex illā rē.)
Nisi superōs vertere possum, Acheronta movēbō. (Virgil.—Acheronta, Gk. acc., Acheron, a river in the underworld, here by metonymy the land of the dead.)
Caelī, Lesbia nostra, Lesbia illa,
illa Lesbia, quam Catullus ūnam
plūs quam sē atque suōs amāvit omnēs,
nunc in quadriviīs et angiportīs
5 glūbit magnanimī Remī nepōtēs.
(*Catullus 58; meter: hendecasyllabic.—Caelius, a rival of Catullus for Lesbia’s favors.—quadrivium, -i, crossroads.—angiportum, -, alley.—glūbō, -ere, to peel (back), strip (off); used of stripping the bark off trees or the skin off an animal, here in an obscene sense.—Remus, brother of Romulus, legendary founders of Rome.)
Dīsertissime Rōmulī nepōtum,
quot sunt quotque fuēre, Marce Tullī,
quotque post aliīs erunt in annīs,
grātiās tibi maximās Catullus
5 agit, pessimus omnium poēta,
tantō pessimus omnium poēta
quantō tū optimus omnium patrōnus.
(*Catullus 49; meter: hendecasyllabic. The poet sends thanks to the orator and statesman, Marcus Tullius Cicero; whether or not the tone is ironic is a matter debated by scholars.—dīsertus, -a, -um, eloquent, learned.—fuēre = fuērunt, see p. 77.—post = posteā.—tantō … quantō, just as much…as.—tū, sc. es.)
Adulēscēns est cārior mihi quam ego ipse! Atque hic nōn est fīlius meus sed ex frātre meō. Studia frātris iam diū sunt dissimillima meīs. Ego vītam urbānam ēgī et ōtium petīvī et, id quod quīdam fortūnātius putant, uxōrem numquam habuī. Ille, autem, haec omnia fēcit: nōn in forō sed in agrīs vītam ēgit, parvum pecūniae accēpit, uxōrem pudīcam dūxit, duōs filiōs habuit. Ex illō ego hunc maiōrem adoptāvī mihi, ēdūxī ā parvō puerō, amāvī prō meō. In eō adulēscente est dēlectātiō mea; sōlum id est cārum mihi.
(Terence, Adelphoe 39-49.—dūxit, he married.—adoptāre.—ēdūxī, I raised.)
In many instances the irregular comparison of a Latin adjective can easily be remembered by English derivatives:
bonus
melior: ameliorate
optimus: optimist, optimum, optimal
magnus
maior: major, majority, mayor
maximus: maximum
malus
peior: pejorative
pessimus: pessimist
multus
plūs: plus, plural, plurality, nonplus
parvus
minor: minor, minority, minus, minute, minuet, minister, minstrel minimus: minimum, minimize
(prō)
prior: prior, priority
prīmus: prime, primacy, primary, primeval, primitive
superus
superior: superior, superiority
summus: summit, sum, consummate
suprēmus: supreme, supremacy
Lat. plūs is the parent of Fr. plus and It. più, words which are placed before adjectives to form the comparative degree in those Romance languages. If the definite article is then added to these comparatives, it converts them into superlatives.
| Latin | French | Italian |
| longior | plus long | più lungo |
| longissimus | le plus long | il più lungo |
| cārior | plus cher | più caro |
| cārissimus | le plus cher | il più caro |
From pōnō come innumerable derivatives: apposite, apposition, component, composite, compost, compound, deponent, deposit, deposition, depot, exponent, exposition, expound, imposition, impost, impostor, juxtaposition, opponent, opposite, positive, post, postpone, preposition, proposition, propound, repository, supposition, transposition.
However, note that “pose” and its compounds derive, not from pōnō as one would think, but from the late Latin pausāre, which stems from Gk. pausis, a pause, and pauein, to stop. In Fr. this pausāre became poser, which took the place of pōnō in compounds. Consequently, the forms given above under pōnō are not etymologically related to the following words despite their appearance: compose, depose, expose, impose, oppose, propose, repose, suppose, transpose.
4. natal, prenatal, postnatal, Natalie. 5. council (vs. cōnsilium, counsel), conciliate, conciliatory. 6. opera, operetta.—domesticate, etc.; cp. domus.—military, cp. mīles. 9. accommodate, accommodation. 11. comparative, incomparable. 12. victual, victualer, vittles.—temperance, intemperance.—injustice. “An Uncle’s Love”: adopt, adoption.
Salvē! Quid agis hodiē? Spīrasne? Spērāsne? Rīdēsne? Valēsne? Sī tū valēs, ego valeō! And here are some more rēs Latīnae to give you a mēns sāna: First, an old Latin maxim which you should now be able to read, sapiēns nihil affirmat quod nōn probat. Likewise this quote from Horace (Epistulae 1.1.106), sapiēns ūnō minor est Iove, and the motto of the Jesuit order, ad maiōrem glōriam Deī. Now, quid est tempestās? Pluitne? Estne frīgida? Nimbōsa? Well, it really won’t matter, if you remember this proverb: sōl lūcet omnibus! (Remember lūcēre from last chapter?) Birds of a feather flock together and, according to another old Latin proverb, similis in similī gaudet.
Here are some more from the irregular comparatives and superlatives you’ve just learned: meliōrēs priōrēs, freely, the better have priority; maximā cum laude and summā cum laude (what you should have on your next diploma, sī es dīligēns in studiō Latīnae!); peior bellō est timor ipse bellī (note the abl. of comparison); ē plūribus ūnum, motto of the United States, one from several, i.e., one union from many states; prīmus inter parēs, first among equals; prīmā faciē, at first sight; and, finally, summum bonum, the highest good, which can come from studying Latin, of course: valē!