Grimnesse

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The quality of being stern, harsh, or forbidding in appearance, manner, or mood, as an archaic form of grimness
2. An archaic term for the fierce, forbidding, or gloomy character of a person, place, or situation
3. The state of looking or being severe, dismal, and ghastly, a sense now largely replaced by grimness in modern English

Etymology: Before "grim" came to mean gloomy or stern, the Old English "grimm" meant fierce, savage, or cruel, and "grimnesse" was the noun for that quality: ferocity, or cruelty in action. The word was built the ordinary way. The adjective "grimm" joined the suffix "-nes", which made abstract nouns from adjectives, just as "-ness" does today in "kindness" or "darkness." Its roots reach back to a Proto-Germanic "*grimmaz", which also gave German "grimm" and Old Norse "grimmr", both meaning fierce. Middle English writers used the noun in this sense, but it did not survive into modern English. Its meaning drifted toward the sombre and forbidding, and "grim" lost its sense of violence. The Old Norse god-name Grímnir, meaning "masked one," is sometimes linked to the same root, but that connection is uncertain, so it is best set aside.

Synonyms: sternness, fierceness, severity

Antonyms: gentleness, kindness