The sociolinguistics of the superlative adjective in the Milan Glosses

This article examines the form and function of the superlative adjective in the Milan Glosses. It proposes an explanation of the origins of the ‘doubled’ superlative ending -imem, locating it firmly in the diglossic context of early Irish Latinate ecclesiastical scholarship. It also explores some of the sociolinguistic issues raised by the retention of formal morphological marking of the superlative in the Old Irish Glosses more generally, compared with verse of a similar period such as the poems of Blathmac