Superlatives
For those who appreciate this sort of thing, yesterday was th Feast Day of Gregory the Great, who was a patron of English teachers.
Samuel Page offers a lesson in unsavory earlier forms of superlatives in the 1844 edition of his Anecdotes of the English Language:
“As to worser, it is no more than a double comparative with the usual termination, in a case which the ear will bear and which it would abhor in other words, such as better-er, happier-er, sooner-er … Londoners are farther accused of inflaming offence by sometimes saying more worser. But to shew how much the comparatives, with the auxiliary term more, were once allowable, the following examples shall suffice: “I am more better than Prospero,” (The Tempest); “more sharper than your swords, “ (Henry V); and “ the envoy of less happier lands,” (Richard II).”
Samuel Page offers a lesson in unsavory earlier forms of superlatives in the 1844 edition of his Anecdotes of the English Language:
“As to worser, it is no more than a double comparative with the usual termination, in a case which the ear will bear and which it would abhor in other words, such as better-er, happier-er, sooner-er … Londoners are farther accused of inflaming offence by sometimes saying more worser. But to shew how much the comparatives, with the auxiliary term more, were once allowable, the following examples shall suffice: “I am more better than Prospero,” (The Tempest); “more sharper than your swords, “ (Henry V); and “ the envoy of less happier lands,” (Richard II).”