Mostly? Because the meaning of some words change over time while others do not. I’m not a word expert but I’ll try to explain.
All of these words in English originated in Latin. Horrible passed from Latin (horrere) to Old French (horribleis, abt. 750 to 1350 CE) to Middle English (horrid, 1150 to 1500 CE). In Latin, it meant to tremble or shudder. Terrible also originated in Latin (terrere) meaning to frighten. It passed through French but at a different time to reach late Middle English. Horrific also started as horrere in Latin but the “horrificus” version of the word passed directly to English in the mid-1600s. Terrific again originated in Latin (terrere) but passed directly to English in the mid-1600s using “terrificus” and becoming “terrific.”
At the start of the 20th century, taking on an idea of greater intensity of terror. The phrase “terrific clamor” came to mean “a lot of noise.” That is, so much noise, it was terror-inducing but changed to “more intense than usual” without the terror idea. As an intensifier word, it separated from the original idea of bad or scary things to be a positive.
Tremendous also took a similar path to go from causing someone to tremble with fear to be something that is really great. I understand it still means trembling with fear in French, but English changed the meaning after it became an intensifier (in English).
Awful started as a fear word, became an intensifier but then didn’t shift from negative to positive. Awesome, however, did make that jump.
There’s no telling what triggers the shift since it happens organically. Few people can plan a change and make the general public use it. A unique use of a word might catch on or it might be ignored.
Comments
It was tremendous
that’s actually been asked here before 🙂
https://www.reddit.com/r/etymology/comments/a45js3/why_do_terrible_and_terrific_have_opposite/
Mostly? Because the meaning of some words change over time while others do not. I’m not a word expert but I’ll try to explain.
All of these words in English originated in Latin. Horrible passed from Latin (horrere) to Old French (horribleis, abt. 750 to 1350 CE) to Middle English (horrid, 1150 to 1500 CE). In Latin, it meant to tremble or shudder. Terrible also originated in Latin (terrere) meaning to frighten. It passed through French but at a different time to reach late Middle English. Horrific also started as horrere in Latin but the “horrificus” version of the word passed directly to English in the mid-1600s. Terrific again originated in Latin (terrere) but passed directly to English in the mid-1600s using “terrificus” and becoming “terrific.”
At the start of the 20th century, taking on an idea of greater intensity of terror. The phrase “terrific clamor” came to mean “a lot of noise.” That is, so much noise, it was terror-inducing but changed to “more intense than usual” without the terror idea. As an intensifier word, it separated from the original idea of bad or scary things to be a positive.
Tremendous also took a similar path to go from causing someone to tremble with fear to be something that is really great. I understand it still means trembling with fear in French, but English changed the meaning after it became an intensifier (in English).
Awful started as a fear word, became an intensifier but then didn’t shift from negative to positive. Awesome, however, did make that jump.
There’s no telling what triggers the shift since it happens organically. Few people can plan a change and make the general public use it. A unique use of a word might catch on or it might be ignored.
r/etymology