Re: Good, better, Best. Bad, Worse, Worst

From: rhtabone@...
Message: 11320
Date: 2001-11-20

Thanks Anders.

Your example is great.

I know there are some IE languages that regularized their
comparatives and superlatives but still have the 'original' irregular
form.

Anybody else?

--- In cybalist@..., malmqvist52@... wrote:
> --- In cybalist@..., rhtabone@... wrote:
> > Hello all.
> >
> > I have been thinking about this for quite some time, but I never
> knew
> > how to go about it.
> >
> > I wanted to gather evidence for my thesis that in all IE
languages,
> > the comparative and superlative of 'Good' and 'Bad' are always
> formed
> > from another stem. This works for the adverbs as well.
> >
> > I know an example from Romance:
> > Port: bom (adj), bem(adv), melhor (adj, adv comp and sup),
> > mau (adj), mal (adv) -> pior (adj, adv comp and sup).
> >
> > Engl: good(adj), well(adv), better (comp), best(sup)
> > bad(adv), badly(adv), worse (comp), worst(sup)
> >
> > Can anyone prove or disprove this statement?
>
> I can disprove it for one of the swedish words in one of it's
> meanings.
> god (adj.)( about food and mood) godare godast
> but you can also say god bättre bäst which is a more original way I
> guess. So the above seems to be the exeption to the rule.
>
> The other word for good is bra, and both the adverb and adjectiv is:
> bra bättre bäst. Here <bra> is a loan from italian <bravo>
> in other cases it's
> Cheers
> Anders