I’m currently reading a book written in England in the mid-1800’s. The author keeps saying “it is of the very last importance that…” when he actually means it is the most important thing. A very curious way of speaking.
Active thread on just this (general) topic:
I reckon that ‘last importance’ has mutated to ‘least important’ - which makes more sense.
It is explained here Meaning - “last importance” and turns upon the meaning of “last”:
OED s.v. last, adj. . . . and adv., sense #7:
Reaching its ultimate limit; attaining a degree beyond which one cannot go; utmost, extreme. Now chiefly in phr. of the last importance.
The answerer notes that the quote is probably 150 years old.
Thank you!
But, you know what they say: “last, but not least”!
Just checking the Australian newspaper database the ‘of last importance’ had hits overwhelmingly in the second half of 19th century, but not a vast amount. Spot-checking a few shows they intend it to mean of top-highest-super importance. At the same time ‘of the highest importance’ scored about 15 times the citations across the same period. Other adjectives like ultimate importance barely register.
‘Of least importance’ has similar numbers as ‘last’ but peaks later - in early C20.
Make of that what you will.