§244] Adjectives 113 -δ = Indg. ablative ending -ðd (§ 89). And then at a later period it became extended to adjectives. In Gothic the ja-stems, i-stems, and u-stems take the suffix -iz·; pure a-stems sometimes take the one, sometimes the other suffix, thus:— POSITIVE. COMPARATIVE. managa, great managiza juggs, young jūhiza (§§ 62,137) swinþs, strong swinþōza alþeis, old alþiza suts, sweet sutiza harđus, hard harđiza •2. The Superlative Degree. § 244. The superlative, like the comparative degree, was formed in the Indg. parent language by means of several suffixes. But in the individual branches of the parent language one of the suffixes generally became more productive than the rest, and in the course of time came to be the principal one from which the superlative degree was formed, the other suffixes only being preserved in isolated forms. The only superlative suffix which remained productive in the Germanic languages is -to- in the combination -isto-, formed by adding the original superlative suffix -to- to the comparative suffix -is-, as in Sanskrit and Greek, as Gr. íjS.cn-os = Goth, sutists, OHG. suoz;isto, OE. swētest(a), sweetest. The simple superlative suffix -to- has been preserved in Gr., Lat, and the Germanic languages in the formation of the ordinal numerals, as Gr. ?κτο$, Lat. sextus, Goth, saíhsta, OHG. sehsto, OE. siexta, sixth. The Germanic suffix -ost- was a new formation like -ōz- in the comparative. In Gothic the rule seems to have been that adjectives which had -iz-in the comparative had -ist- in the superlative, and those 1187 ι