05.12.24: level 2; degrees of comparison [17]; the superlative (4); relative superlative; quam + superlative

“Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?”

Take a look at the last sentence from Peckett and Munday’s Principia:

(c) sed auris tertia est longissima omnium │ but the third ear is the longest of (them) all.

[1] The superlative can stand alone:

Fortissimus est. │ He is the bravest.

[2] The relative superlative refers to when the superlative is used in relation to something else e.g. the bravest of (all) the soldiers. Latin expresses this idea in two ways:

[i] With the genitive, and usually genitive plural since the superlative tends to be highlighting the best, worst etc. of a group, more than one person or thing:

eloquentissimus ¦ Rōmānōrum │ the most eloquent ¦ of the Romans

doctissimus ¦ magistrōrum │ the most educated ¦ of the teachers

pulcherrima omnium fēminārum │ the most beautiful ¦ of all the women

altissima ¦ arborum │ the tallest ¦ of the trees

[ii] With ē / ex + ablative plural

altissima ex arboribus │ the tallest of the trees

doctissimus ē magistrīs │ the most educated of the teachers

That is similar to English “He’s the best pupil out of that whole class.”

[3] Note that, in English, the preposition ‘in’ can be used to express a relative superlative, for example, ‘the most beautiful temple in the world,’ but Latin does not express the idea in that way:

pulcherrimum ¦ orbis [genitive] terrārum ¦ templum │ the most beautiful temple ¦ in the world

Urbs quam vidētis, pulcherrima Italiae [genitive] est. │ The city which you see is the most beautiful in Italy.

[4] In a relative superlative construction, the superlative adjective will always be translated as a superlative i.e. not as ‘very + adjective’. Compare:

mōns altissimus │ a very high mountain  │ the highest mountain

altissimus montium / altissimus ē montibus │ the highest of the mountains

quam + superlative

Don’t confuse the different uses of quam

[i] quam is used with the comparative to express the object of comparison

Mārcus altior est quam Sextus. │ Marcus is taller than Sextus.

[ii] quam is also used with the superlative but not with the same meaning

When used with a superlative quam conveys ‘as [adjective] as possible’:

quam potentissimus │ as powerful as possible