This is only another way of saying that between the words _I_ and _me_ there is no connexion in etymology. It is also only another way of saying, that, in the oblique cases, _I_, and, in the nominative case, _me_, are defective. Now the same is the case with _good_, _better_, _bad_, _worse_, &c. _Good_ and _bad_ are defective in the comparative and superlative degrees; _better_ and _worse_ are defective in the positive; whilst between _good_ and _better_, _bad_ and _worse_, there is a sequence in logic, but no sequence in etymology. To return, however, to the word _better_; no absolute positive degree is found in any of the allied languages, and in none of the allied languages is there found any comparative form of _good_. Its root occurs in the following adverbial forms: Moeso-Gothic, _bats_; Old High German, _pats_; Old Saxon and Anglo-Saxon, _bet_; Middle High German, _baz_; Middle Dutch, _bat_, _bet_.--Grimm, D. G. iii. 604. s. 319. _Worse._--Moeso-Gothic, _vairsiza_; Old High German, _wirsiro_; Middle High German, _wirser_; Old Saxon, _wirso_; Anglo-Saxon, _vyrsa_; Old Norse, _verri_; Danish, _vaerre_; and Swedish, _vaerre_. Such are the adjectival forms. The adverbial forms are Moeso-Gothic, _vairs_; Old High German, _virs_; Middle High German, _wirs_; Anglo-Saxon, _vyrs_: Old Norse, _verr_; Danish, _vaerre_; Swedish, _vaerre_.--Grimm, D. G. iii. 606. Whether the present form in English be originally adjectival or adverbial is indifferent; since, as soon as the final _a_ of _vyrsa_ was omitted, the two words would be the same. The forms, however, _vairsiza_, _wirser_, _worse_, and _verri_, make the word one of the most perplexing in the language. {268} If the form _worse_ be taken without respect to the rest, the view of the matter is simply that in the termination _s_ we have a remnant of the Moeso-Gothic forms, like _sutiza_, &c., in other words, the old comparative in _s_. _Wirser_ and _vairsiza_ traverse this view. They indicate the likelihood of the _s_ being no sign of the degree, but a part of the original word. Otherwise the _r_ in _wirser_, and the _z_ in _vairsiza_, denote an excess of expression. The analogies of _songstress_, _children_, and _betser[^o]ro_ show that excess of expression frequently occurs. The analogy of _m[^a]_ and _bet_ show that _worse_ may possibly be a positive form. The word _verri_ indicates the belief that the _s_ is no part of the root. Finally the euphonic processes of the Scandinavian languages tell us that, even had there been an _s_, it would, in all probability, have been ejected. These difficulties verify the statement that the word _worse_ is one of the most perplexing in the language.