Studia Językoznawcze

The purpose of the article is to identify the functions of the superlative forms in the feuilletonschronicles by Henryk Sienkiewicz. The texts date from 1873 to 1875, i. e. from the time when Litwos was an active journalist. The excerpted material basis contains ca. 500 superlatives (both the synthetic and analytic ones, as well as their secondary usages). On average in one feuilleton by Henryk Sienkiewicz there is 8 superlatives. Superlative forms constitute a material diverse with respect to both form and meaning, and therefore – the function. The particular functions are determined by the usage context. The primary function, i.e. the intensification of the feature expressed by the adjective or the adverb, served different purposes – most frequently persuasive ones. Moreover, it was an exponent of the valuation, hyperbolizing, and delimitation. The existing research into the writing craft of the author of Trilogy explains the considerable quantity of superlatives by the feuilleton genre specificity – i. e. the tendency toward overestimating and persuasive exaggerating.