Degree: degree of comparison
| Values: | Cmp | Pos | Sup |
Degree of comparison is a grammatical feature of qualitative adjectives and some adverbs.
The comparative (second) degree is formed periphrastically with the adverb այլ (էլ) “more” e.g. այլ աղէկ/ayl aġēk “better”; այլ ծանդր/ayl çandr “heavier”.
Other adverbs such as դհա/dha, ջիլիզ/jiliz may be used as intensifiers of an attribute.
Pos: positive, first degree
This is the base form that merely states a quality of something, without comparing it to qualities of others. Note that although this degree is traditionally called “positive”, negative properties can be compared, too.
Examples
- հին սիգեղ/hin sigeġ “old seal”
- պակաս զգայութիւն/pakas zgayowt’iwn “little sensitivity”
- ծարավն շատ լինի/çaravn šat lini Lit.: “thirst is much”
Cmp: comparative, second degree
The quality of one object is compared to the same quality of another object.
The adverb այլ/ayl and the intensifiers դհա/dha and ջիլիզ/jiliz are used to form periphrastic comparative degree of adjectives and adverbs. Note that only these three adverbs have the Cmp feature.
Examples
- այլ հին/ayl hin “older”
- Իր սիգեղն այլ հին է քան զայլ անսիզվորացդ/Ir sigeġn ayl hin ē k’an zayl ansizvorac’d “His seal is older than of those other owners.”
- այլ պակաս/ayl pakas “less”
- այն այլ պակաս է/ayn ayl pakas ē “That is less, fewer”
- այլ շատ/ayl šat “more”
- ծարավն այլ շատ լինի/çaravn ayl šat lini Lit.: “thirst is yet more”
Sup: superlative, third degree
The quality of one object is compared to the same quality of all other objects within a set. It is formed periphrastically with the adverb այլ/ayl “more” and the positive form of the adjective with the definite article ն/n (enclitic). In later Middle Armenian texts it may also be expressed by a periphrastic superlative construction using the inflected pronoun ամենից/amenic’ “most of all”.
Examples
- այլ ջրախառն գինին/ayl ǰraxaṙn ginin “the most diluted wine (with water)”
- այլ աղէկն/ayl aġēkn “the best”
- ամենից գիտուն/amenic’ gitown “the cleverest”.
Note that there is no special morphological form for the absolute superlative in Middle Armenian. To express this meaning, adverbs such as կարի/kari “extremely”, խիստ/xist “highly”, պինդ/pind “strongly”, շատ/šat “very” are used.
Degree in other languages: [af] [axm] [bej] [bg] [cs] [cy] [el] [en] [es] [et] [fi] [ga] [grc] [gub] [hu] [hy] [it] [ka] [ky] [la] [naq] [oge] [pal] [pcm] [pt] [qpm] [quc] [ru] [sl] [sv] [tr] [tt] [u] [uk] [urj] [uz] [xmf]