enormity

[tortoise]

So far as I can piece together from the OED, the story is this

Comments

[dclayh]

I just realized that the distinction between "enormousness" and "enormity" is exactly the same as that between "normal" and "normative".

[tortoise]

And all four from the same Latin root, too!

But "normal" and "normative" are the same part of speech, so it's easier to maintain that distinction. If only "enorm" had survived as the adjectival form of "enormity"...

[nemene]

Call me a philistian, I have been using enormity as the noun form of enormous, and had no idea that I was doing anything wrong.