plusquamperfectadj.n.

Etymology: < post-classical Latin plus quam perfectum pluperfect (3rd cent.), use as noun (short for tempus praeteritum plus quam perfectum pluperfect past tense) of neuter of plus quam perfectus , literally ‘more than perfect’ ( < classical Latin plūs more (see plus prep., n., adv., and adj.) + quam , interrogative and relative adverb + perfectus perfect adj.), translating Hellenistic Greek ὑπερσυντελικός (also χρόνος ὑπερσυντελικός ). Compare Middle French, French plus-que-parfait (1521; end of the 12th cent. in Old French as pluscoparfet ). Compare earlier pluperfect adj. and n.Compare the following examples of post-classical Latin plus quam perfectum:a450 Macrobius De different. Verb. in Grammatici Latini V. 607 In Græcis verbis quæ in ω exeunt omne perfectum tempus mutat in fine α in ειν et facit plusquamperfectum, quod illi ὑπερσυντελικόν vocant.c500 Priscian in Grammatici Latini II. 406 Praeteritum plusquamperfectum, in quo iam pridem res perfecta ostenditur. Compare also the following early use of post-classical Latin praeteritum plusquamperfectum and plusquamperfectum, noun (both in sense ‘pluperfect tense’) in an English context:OE Ælfric Gram. (St. John's Oxf.) 124 praeteritvm plvsqvamperfectvm is forðgewiten mare, þonne fulfremed, forðan ðe hit wæs gefyrn gedon: steteram ic stod gefyrn.OE Ælfric Gram. (St. John's Oxf.) 189 optativo modo utinam audiretur; plvsqvamperfecto utinam auditum esset vel auditum fuisset. Compare also Older Scots plusqueperfect (adjective), in the same sense (one isolated attestation: see below), and (from the same text) post-classical Latin plusque perfectum, a form unparalleled elsewhere (both have perhaps been influenced by Middle French plus-que-parfait):1522 J. Vaus Rudimenta i. sig. bbij^v Preteriti perfecti et plusque perfecti temporis..ane of the preterit perfect tyme, and preterit plusque perfect tyme.