retheness means the character, state, or condition of being rethe; fierceness; wildness; roughness; harshness; sternness; cruelty. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
Why “retheness” is a great word
The character, state, or condition of being rethe; a primal quality of fierceness, wildness, roughness, harshness, sternness, or cruelty. From Middle English rethnes, from Old English rēþnes ("fierceness, rage, cruelty"), equivalent to rethe ("fierce, cruel") + -ness (state or condition). Unlike "gentleness," which implies a mild and tender quality, or "ferocity," which specifies a violent aggression, retheness is a broader, more archaic distillation of an unforgiving state of being. It is the gnarled oak clawing at a storm-sick sky, the unyielding granite of a sea-cliff, the fixed, pitiless expression of a stone effigy—a quality not of mere action, but of essential character, etched by a landscape that offered no quarter.
Etymology
From Middle English rethnes, from Old English rēþnes (“fierceness, rage, cruelty, severity, zeal, savageness, ferocity, harshness, storminess”), equivalent to rethe + -ness. Cognate with Scots rethnas (“retheness”).
noun
- The character, state, or condition of being rethe; fierceness; wildness; roughness; harshness; sternness; cruelty.