凄まじい

From Old Japanese. First cited in the Nihon Shoki of 720.^[1]

Derived from verb 荒む (susamu, “to grow wild, to fall into ruin, to go to waste; to lose force and cease (such as wind or rain); to become absorbed in doing something; to grow old and weak”),^[1][2] possibly from the causative form 荒ます (susamasu). May be cognate with the susa element in the name of the Shinto god, Susanoo-no-Mikoto.

The term initially evoked senses of desolate, depressing in reference to people or emotions, and desolate, wild, chilly in reference to natural phenomena. Usage then shifted to a focus on frightful, terrible, extreme during the Kamakura and Muromachi periods (1100s–1500s).^[1][2]

The adjective appears initially without voicing on the last element, as susamashi in the terminal form.^[1][2] The voicing appears from roughly the Kamakura period (late 1100s–early 1300s), with both unvoiced susamashi and voiced susamaji appearing in free variation until the late 1500s.^[2]

• (Tokyo) すさまじい (Nakadaka – )^[2][3]
• IPA^(key):

凄(すさ)まじい • (susamajii) -i (adverbial 凄(すさ)まじく (susamajiku))

1. dreadful, threatening
2. fierce, extreme, tremendous