Terrifyingly Beautiful? The Surprising Evolution of the Word נורא

- "The food here is נורא טעים (terribly tasty)!" - "What are you talking about? It’s נורא ואיום (terrible and orrible)!"

In modern Hebrew, the word נוֹרָא (nora) is commonly used in two main ways:

1. Very bad or terrible: For example, מזג אוויר נורא (terrible weather) or הרגשתי נורא (I felt terrible).

2. Very or extremely: For example, נורא יפה (terribly beautiful) or התעצבנתי נורא (I got extremely annoyed).

While the second usage is common in colloquial speech, it is best avoided in formal Hebrew. Instead of נורא יפה, it is recommended to use יפה מאוד (very beautiful) or יפה ביותר (most beautiful).

The Biblical Roots: From Fear to Awe

How did these two different meanings evolve? The word נוֹרָא is a verb in the Nif'al structure from the root יר"א (fear/awe). Its fundamental meaning is "inspiring awe" or "feared."

In the Bible, the Prophet Habakkuk describes the terrifying rule of the Chaldeans as אָיֹם וְנוֹרָא (ayom ve-nora – "dreadful and terrible"). Similarly, the desert is described as a frightening place: "that great and נוֹרָא wilderness" (Deuteronomy 1:19).

However, in Biblical Hebrew, יראה (yira) is not necessarily negative. It can mean "dread," but it often means "reverence" or "awe." In the Tanakh, נורא is frequently used as an epithet for God: "The great, the mighty, and the נוֹרָא God" (Deuteronomy 10:17). When Jacob wakes from his dream, he exclaims, "How נוֹרָא is this place!" (Genesis 28:17), meaning sublime, exalted, or awesome. This is also the source of the term נוֹרָאוֹת (nora'ot), referring to magnificent acts or miracles.

The "Days of Awe"

The term ימים נוראים (Yamim Nora'im) refers to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. While a modern Hebrew speaker might hear this as "terrible days," the original intent is "Days of Awe." It refers to days of majesty and solemnity, or as the author Mendele Mocher Sforim wrote, days so heavy with judgment that "even the fish in the water tremble."

How It Became "Bad" and "Extremely"

In modern times, נורא evolved to mean "very bad" (זה לא נורא – it's not so bad). This mirrors other words like איום (ayum - dreaded), which became a synonym for "terrible," or מזעזע (meza'aze'a - shocking/appalling).

The jump from "terrifying" to "very" (נורא יפה) likely happened under the influence of European languages—think of the English terribly happy, the French terriblement, or the Russian ужасно.

In slang, we often reach for "intense" or negative words to express high magnitude because standard words like מאוד (me'od - very) feel worn out. This is why we say things like מסובך רצח (mesubach retzach – "murderously complicated"), מצחיק פחד (metz'chik pachad – "scary funny"), or טעים בטירוף (ta'im be-tiruf – "insanely tasty").

The Bottom Line

The Academy notes a distinction between the two modern uses:

• Using נורא to mean "terrible" (bad) is acceptable, as it is close to the original negative sense of fear.

• Using נורא as an adverb for "very" (נורא יפה) is grammatically distant from its origins and functions as a slang intensifier. In formal writing, stick to יפה מאוד.

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And what about the word נוֹרָאִי (nora'i)? This is a modern colloquial creation. While it follows certain Hebrew patterns, the Academy prefers the original form נורא (and נוראה for feminine) over the modern נוראית (nora'it).