Talk:supreme

See the Tea Room discussion. JesseW 18:31, 31 January 2009 (UTC)

The following discussion has been moved from Wiktionary:Tea room.

This discussion is no longer live and is left here as an archive. Please do not modify this conversation, but feel free to discuss its conclusions.

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supreme - comparable

The entry for "supreme" currently marks it as (not comparable), which in its original use it certainly was, and according to prescriptive grammarians it should be. However, modern usage sees comparable usage, e.g. -

• 1940 International Phenomenological Society, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research (p568)

  "If the value that is sought to be realized is cherished as the most supreme of values"

• 2002 Pnina Werbner, Imagined Diasporas Among Manchester Muslims: : the Public Performance of Pakistani Transnational..." (p165)

  "And if he, the most supreme of all human beings, was not a king, is anyone else entitled to claim kingship?"

• 1991 Suzanne Keller, Beyond the Ruling Class: Strategic Elites in Modern Society (p138)

  "Their power is more supreme in primitive societies because there the collective

conscience is more supreme."

• '2000 Douglas Renfrew Brooks, Meditation Revolution: A History and Theology of the Siddha Yoga Lineage (p312)

  "There is no other more supreme than the Guru. There is no principle (tattva) more supreme than the Guru."

I think there is plenty of evidence for this usage, but how should it be entered? The current definition is "Dominant, having power over all others." is it part of this definition (currently marked as not comparable) or is it a second definition? Thryduulf 12:39, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

There are also lots of citations of ‘more unique’ etc. Since the cites don't involve a new word (ie it's not supremest etc.), I'd be tempted to leave it (but by all means include these quotations on the page). But it may be worth including a Usage note on pages like this, saying something along the lines of the OED's comment, ‘The usage in the comparative and superlative [...] has been objected to as tautological’, which seems to sum it up. Widsith 13:01, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

...but some animals are more equal than others... :-)Algrif 16:22, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

Thinking about this further, I come to the conclusion that there may be a definition of supreme which is applied to spiritual, or heavenly beings. In heaven there are many supreme beings, but God is the most supreme. What do you think? Algrif 18:12, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

The word comes originally from the superlative form of the Latin adjective superus "what is above, higher, upper", so supreme originally (and still usually) meant "highest of the high", or "above all others". So, a "supreme court" or "supreme being" is one that has power over and above all others. In this sense it is not comparable, just as unique originally (and still usually) means "one of a kind". The appearance of comparable forms of supreme is a recent and rare phenomenon, so I would put the information into a Usage notes section and leave the inflection line as "ot comparable". --EncycloPetey 21:56, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

adjective : with suprême sauce

adjective : served with a suprême sauce
chicken suprême
Microsoft® Encarta® 2009

--Backinstadiums (talk) 17:07, 7 February 2020 (UTC)