Now let the root _mag-_, as in _magnus_, [Greek: megas], and _mikil_ (Norse), give the idea of greatness. In the Latin language we have from it two comparative forms: 1. the adjectival comparative _major_=_greater_; 2. the adverbial comparative _magis_=_more_ (_plus_). The same takes place in Moeso-Gothic: _maiza_ means _greater_, and is adjectival; _mais_ means _more_, and is adverbial. The Anglo-Saxon forms are more instructive still; _e.g._, _thaes the m[^a]_=_all the more_, _thaes the bet_=_all the better_, have a comparative sense, but not a comparative form, the sign _r_ being absent. Now, compared with _major_, and subject to the remarks that have gone before, the Latin _magis_ is the older form. With _m[^a]_ and _bet_, compared with _more_ and _better_, this may or may not be the case. _M[^a]_ and _bet_ may each be one of two forms; 1. a positive used in a comparative sense; 2. a true comparative, which has lost {265} its termination. The present section has been written not for the sake of exhausting the subject, but to show that in the comparative degree there were often two forms; of which one, the adverbial, was either more antiquated, or more imperfect than the other: a fact bearing upon some of the forthcoming trains of etymological reasoning. s. 314. _Change of vowel._--By reference to Rask's Grammar, s. 128, it may be seen that in the Anglo-Saxon there were, for the comparative and superlative degrees, two forms; _viz._ _-or_ and _-re_, and _-ost_ and _-este_, respectively. By reference to p. 159 of the present volume, it may be seen that the fulness or smallness of a vowel in a given syllable may work a change in the nature of the vowel in a syllable adjoining. In the Anglo-Saxon the following words exhibit a change of vowel. _Positive._ _Comparative._ _Superlative._ Lang, Lengre, Lengest. _Long._ Strang, Strengre, Strengest. _Strong._ Geong, Gyngre, Gyngest. _Young._ Sceort, Scyrtre, Scyrtest. _Short._ He['a]h, Hyrre, Hyhst. _High._ Eald, Yldre, Yldest. _Old._ Of this change, the word last quoted is a still-existing specimen, as _old_, _elder_ and _older_, _eldest_ and _oldest_. Between the two forms there is a difference in meaning, _elder_ being used as a substantive, and having a plural form, _elders_. s. 315. The previous section has stated that in Anglo-Saxon there were two forms for the comparative and superlative degrees, one in _-re_ and _-este_, the other in _-or_ and _-ost_, respectively. Now the first of these was the form taken by adjectives; as _se scearpre sweord_=_the sharper sword_, and _se scearpeste sweord_=_the sharpest sword_. The second, on the other hand, was the form taken by adverbs; as, _se sweord scyrdh scearpor_=_the sword cuts sharper_, and _se sweord scyrdh scearpost_=_the sword cuts sharpest_.