Adjective – Superlatives

ObjectivesLearning objectives

How to form superlatives
The syntax and semantics of superlatives

VocabularyVocabulary

Greek	Gloss	Part of speech	Paradigm
ἡ ἰσχύς, -ύος	the strength	noun	B.a.γ.ix
ὁ ᾅδης, -ου	Hades	noun	B.a.α.iv
κλητός, -ή, -όν	called	adjective	A.a.α
προσλαμβάνομαί σε	(I) accept you (acc)	verb	C.a.α
ἐνδείκνυμί τι εἴς σε	(I) display something (acc) to you (acc)	verb	C.a.ε
ἀναπίπτω	(I) recline	verb	C.a.α

MorphologyMorphology: Adjective – Superlatives

Superlatives use either the suffix -τατος/η/ον or -ιστος/η/ον (besides πρῶτος ‘first’)
Superlative adjectives in NT with -τατος: ἁγιώτατος, ἀκριβέστατος, τιμιώτατος
Superlative adjectives in NT with -ιστος: μέγιστος, ἐλάχιστος, κράτιστος, πλεῖστος, ὕψιστος
All endings are regular: 2nd declension for masc/neut and 1st declension for fem

SyntaxSyntax-semantics: Adjective – Superlatives

Superlatives are ordinarily expressed in English with the suffix - est, as in Mount Everest is the tallest mountain. The basic function of - est is to indicate that the property referred to by the adjective is held by the referent of the noun to a degree higher than everything else being compared to it. In plain English, Mount Everest is higher on the scale of “tallness” than any other mountain being compared to it. A key part to this meaning is that superlatives, like comparatives (see 34.2.3.3), make reference to a set of things that are being compared to it. It might sound obvious to say that Mount Everest is the tallest mountain, but that is only because we regularly supply in the world in our understanding of the sentence. If we were to include other worlds, such as the other planets in our solar system, Mount Everest is the tallest mountain would be a false statement. The tallest mountain in the solar system is Olympus Mons on Mars at a height of 15.5 miles – about three times the size of Mount Everest!

In Greek, the set of things being compared to the superlative is often given explicitly in the context by a noun in the genitive after the adjective:

Example 565Superlative with genitive noun giving comparison set

Ἐγὼ γάρ εἰμι ὁ ἐλάχιστος τῶν ἀποστόλων (1 Cor 15:9)

NoteFor I am the least of the apostles

Paul does not say he is the least of all people, but he is the least of all the apostles. At other times, the comparison set is implicit and must be deduced from the context.

Example 566Superlative without explicit comparison set given

ὁ πρῶτος ἄνθρωπος ἐκ γῆς χοϊκός, ὁ δεύτερος ἄνθρωπος ἐξ οὐρανοῦ (1 Cor 15:47)

The first man was from the dusty earth; the second man from heaven

In 1 Cor 15:47, we are not given a genitive phrase that tells us who the first man is first among. We are not told it is the ‘first man of the human race,’ for example. In fact, this would be a misidentification of the comparison set, even though Adam is, indeed, being referred to and would have been considered the first man of the human race. The comparison set only consists of Adam and Jesus, since Jesus is called the ‘second man’ (and he, of course, would not be the second man if the entire human race was being ordered temporally).

Some superlative forms have developed non-comparative uses and have come to mean a high degree of whatever the adjective is. One such adjective is πλεῖστος, which can simply mean ‘large’:

Example 567Superlative form with non-superlative meaning

ὁ δὲ πλεῖστος ὄχλος ἔστρωσαν ἑαυτῶν τὰ ἱμάτια ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ (Matt 21:8)

But a large crowd spread their own clothes on the road

There is no other crowd in the context that this particular crowd is being compared to, so πλεῖστος here only means that the crowd was a large one. To clarify the implications of this example, we cannot conclude that πλεῖστος has lost its superlative meaning completely – 1 Cor 14:27 is an example where πλεῖστος is used with its normal superlative meaning. It has, however, developed this non-superlative use (ἐλάχιστος also seems to have developed non-superlative meanings as well).

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