carissimus

carus +‎ -issimus

cārissimus (feminine cārissima, neuter cārissimum); first/second declension

1. superlative degree of cārus
2. used as a term of endearment
   • c. 35 CE – 100 CE, Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria 9.2.34:

     Ut dicta autem quaedam, ita scrīpta quoque fingī solent, quod facit Asinius prō Liburniā: "māter mea, quae mihi cum cārissima tum dulcissima fuit […] "

     Just as certain speeches, writings are also sometimes imaginary, as for example Asinius does in his defence of Liburnia, "my mother, who was my dearest and most beloved […] "

   • 747 CE, Boniface, Epistulae 78, (quoted by Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources):

     propterea, carissimi, ... putamus vos libentius scire velle quam nescire

     therefore, my esteemed listeners, ... I think that you all prefer to know than not to know

First/second-declension adjective.

• carissimus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• carissimus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • my dear father: pater optime or carissime, mi pater (vid. sect. XII. 10)