-moresuffix

Etymology: < more adv. Similar formations consisting of a comparative and meir (see mo adv.¹) occur in North Germanic, as Old Icelandic fyrr-meir formerly, firr meir further off, nær-meir nearer, neðar meir , Old Swedish niþermer , Old Danish nedermere (compare nethermore adj.). The earliest instances in English occur in 13th-cent. sources, and analogy with North Germanic formations is probable. (For a similar formation with mo adv.¹ from the same period compare northermo adv.). The subsequent development of -more suffix in English is closely related to that of -most suffix (from late Old English identified in form with most adj.: see further discussion at that entry).Chiefly appended to adverbs or adjectives having already the comparative ending -er suffix³, as in backermore adv., downermore adv., farthermore adv. and adj., furthermore adv., hindermore adj., innermore adj. and adv., outermore adj., overmore adv., rathermore adj., uppermore adv. and adj., uttermore adj. and adv., mostly dating from Middle English. In the 16–17th cent. a few formations occur in which -more suffix is added to a positive or uncompared adverb, as hithermore adj., Sc. yondermair adv. at yonder adv., adj., pron., and n. Derivatives, or (after earlier formations in -most suffix) hindmore adj., inmore adj.; for a Middle English adjective in the latter category see utmer adj. There are few formations in -more suffix later than the end of the 17th cent., although compare foremore adj. The only formations to survive into the later Modern English period are furthermore adv., nethermore adj., and (regionally) uppermore adv. and adj.