The usage of 侮れなかった


This question is a mix between the usage of 侮れない and the usage of なかった instead
of ない in the sentence `意外と、うちのカノジョも侮れなかった`

The usage of 侮れない like in the example below seems to refer to one who you
cannot make light of,be unprepared against and so on. The kind of sentence
below is what I would expect when someone is fighting someone,playing against
them in a game/etc and you had the impression they would be a formidable
opponent and then they did something that made you think the below.

[code]

    やはり彼は侮れない相手だ
    
[/code]

But then here is where my question comes in. How is the た form used in these
sorts of usages? Because surely a "past sense" interpretation doesn't make
sense to me. Does the utterance(in meaning) mean that:

1) She is someone who is 侮れない

2) The た form in this case is used to represent that she was already 侮れない
before this action and he has just realised this by her actions/words

I'm sure there's some more points here, but can anyone clarify this for me? I
suppose this is similar to how when looking for something and then they find
it they would say いた. Or perhaps if someone heard sounds and was wondering who
it was and then realised who it was then they would use だった but if they came
across them normally they would use だ/じゃないか/etc




As a native speaker, and scanning through actual usages of it online, my
feeling is that 侮れなかった is most often used when **recounting a past experience
in which the thing was perceived to be formidable**. So, what is in the past
is the _time of perceiving_ it to be formidable.

It's interesting because I think this suggests 侮れない is chiefly a perception
dependent on a perceiver, rather than a property inherent in the object.

Not sure if this makes sense, but I'll add it anyway:

### Correct:

Past | <- [Perceived formidable] -------------------> | Present

Similar mental time model in English: “She was nice to me”

### Incorrect:

Past | <------------------- [Perceived formidable] -> | Present

Similar mental time model in English: “It turns out she was nice”

* * *

Also, while 侮れなかった does not specifically imply “it used to be formidable and
now is not”, it can mean “it was formidable (and now is dead/defunct)”.

