Terrible (pronounced ter-uh-buhl)
(1) Distressing; severe.
(2) Extremely bad; horrible; of poor quality.
(3) Exciting terror, awe, or great fear; dreadful; awful.
(4) Formidably great; awesome.
1400–1450: From the late Middle English, from the Latin terribilis, from terrēre (to terrify), the construct being terr(ēre) (to frighten) + -ibilis (-ible). The suffix –ible was from the Middle English, from the Old French, from the Latin –ibilis (the alternative forms were –bilis & -abilis. An adjectival suffix, now usually in a passive sense, it was used to form adjectives meaning "able to be", "relevant or suitable to, in accordance with", or expressing capacity or worthiness in a passive sense. The suffix -able is used in the same sense and is pronounced the same and –ible is generally not productive in English, most words ending in -ible being those borrowed from Latin, or Old & Middle French; -able much more productive although examples like collectible do exist.
Because the earlier meanings (formidable; great; awesome)
have faded from use, the synonyms now deployed tend to be: cruel, atrocious,
ghastly, horrendous, disturbing, dreadful, horrid, abhorrent, unpleasant,
unfortunate, hideous, disastrous, dire, harrowing, awful, gruesome, extreme,
dangerous, appalling, frightful, horrible, horrifying & terrifying.
Technically, terrible can also mean “causing terror” but
the related word terrifying is much more commonly used to mean this and now, to
use “terrible” in this sense would probably be thought an error. Terrible also once was a somewhat formal way
of describing something as having great power or being worthy of awe, a sense present
when used to describe supernatural power and, especially in Christianity, God
and all his works. In the Bible, the
number varies according to the translation (some modern editions omit completely
describing God as in any way “terrible” because of the confusion it’s likely to
cause but in older translations, the word in its various senses appears dozens
of times, a few examples from the 1611 King James Version (KJV) being:
Thou shalt not be affrighted
at them: for the LORD thy God [is] among you, a mighty God and terrible. Deuteronomy 7:21
And he said, Behold, I make
a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been
done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou
[art] shall see the work of the LORD: for it [is] a terrible thing that I will
do with thee. Exodus 34:10
And when we departed from
Horeb, we went through all that great and terrible wilderness, which ye saw by
the way of the mountain of the Amorites, as the Lord our God commanded us; and
we came to Kadeshbarnea. Deuteronomy 1:19
And he said, Behold, I make
a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done
in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art
shall see the work of the LORD: for it [is] a terrible thing that I will do
with thee. Exodus 34:10
And said, I beseech thee, O
LORD God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy
for them that love him and observe his commandments. Nehemiah 1:5
And in thy majesty ride
prosperously because of truth and meekness [and] righteousness; and thy right
hand shall teach thee terrible things. Psalms
45:4
And I will punish the world
for [their] evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the
arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the
terrible. Isaiah 13:11
For the terrible one is
brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity
are cut off. Isaiah 29:20
Our skin was black like an
oven because of the terrible famine. Lamentations
5:10
After this I saw in the
night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong
exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and
stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts
that were before it; and it had ten horns. Daniel 7:7
He and his people with him,
the terrible of the nations, shall be brought to destroy the land: and they
shall draw their swords against Egypt, and fill the land with the slain. Ezekiel 30:11
When speaking of the awesome, formidable power of God, the
Hebrew word translated as "terrible" in the KJV reflects English
usage that was common and well-understood in the seventeenth century. The type of "terror" associated with
the word at that time was a reverent fear of God, which even today, theologians
would suggest is the appropriate response to a Being immeasurably greater and
more powerful than any living thing, Jesus telling his followers to have this
kind of fear of God (Luke 12:4-5). One
can understand why some modern translations express the Hebrew word as "awesome"
or "to be held in reverence", the dominant modern meaning of "terrible"
as "extremely bad", "appalling" or "atrocious"
not helpful in spreading the Christian message. Interestingly, some translations use "dreadful" instead of and as well as "terrible", the meaning shift there a similar linguistic phenomenon.
Terrible in the seventeen century Biblical sense also
appears in the first verse of the nineteenth century Battle Hymn of the Republic, written as a patriotic anti-slavery
song during the American Civil War.
Mine
eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord
He is
trapling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored
He
have loosed the faiteful lightening of his terrible swift sword
His
truth is marching on
Glory,
Glory halleluhja
Glory,
Glory halleluhja
Glory,
Glory halleluhja
His
truth is marching on
Battle Hymn of the Republic, lyrics (1861) by Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910), music
(1856) by William Steffe (1830-1890).
Although in the hymn there are allusions to several passages of
scripture, the most vivid imagery is that which recalls the wrathful God of
terrible power in Revelation 14:14–19.
14 And I looked,
and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man,
having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.
15 And another
angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the
cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap;
for the harvest of the earth is ripe.
16 And he that sat
on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.
17 And another
angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.
18 And another
angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud
cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and
gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel
thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and
cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the
winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress,
even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred
furlongs.
Russia over the centuries has been ruled by some difficult souls, tsars and tsarinas both but only one is remembered in history as "the terrible" although, in his lifetime he was referred to also as "Ivan the Fearsome" & "Ivan the Formidable" so there appears little doubt about his character. His rule of Russia seems to have begun rather well, a period of liberal reform and improvement by the standards of the age but, what with one thing and another, some personality disorders emerged and they didn't improve with age, his reign associated with repression, torture and gruesome forms of execution. Some of the stories are doubtless apocryphal but there's enough documentary evidence to confirm Ivan deserved to be called terrible. One of his noted contributions to public administration in Russia was the creation of a secret police called the Oprichnina which he used as an instrument of terror although, he came later to suspect them of disloyalty, dissolving the operation and executing many of its members. Later Russian and Soviet leaders would however be impressed with the achievements of the Oprichnina and there were many revivals, most famously the various formations of Soviet and post-Soviet times (Cheka, GPU, OGPU, NKGB, NKVD, MGB, KGB, SMERSH & FSB). In 1584, Ivan the Terrible suffered a massive stroke while playing chess with one of his few friends, dying hours later at the age of fifty-three. The kingdom passed to his middle son, the feeble-minded Feodor (1557-1598) who died childless, after which Russia descended into lawlessness and anarchy, a period which came to be known as the "Time of Troubles" (1598-1613), an era which ended only when the rule of the Romanovs was established, the dynasty lasting until the revolutions of 1917.
Phrases like "not terrible" belong to the class known as "damning with faint praise".
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