fury

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈfjʊə.ri/, US /ˈfjʊr.i/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English furie, borrowed from Old French furie (“rage, frenzy”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from Latin furia (“violent passion, rage, madness”), from or related to furō (“to rage, be mad”),^[2][3][4] which is of uncertain origin; de Vaan says that no proposed etymology is clearly the best.^[3] Barnhart compares a Greek word for a bacchante.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Fierce passion approaching madness: about 1374 in the OED; rage, madness, about 1385, in Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde, in Barnhart.^[7][2] One of the avenging Furies is in Chaucer's Boethius, about 1380.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The Romans used Furiae to translate the Greek Erinyes, the avenging deities.^[3] Figuratively, an angry woman, it is from the late 14th century.^[3] Violence in war is from 1534, inspired frenzy from 1546, and the fury of a storm or disease from 1585.^[7] The Spanish Fury was the sack of Antwerp in 1576.^[7] Like fury, furiously, is colloquial from 1840.^[7] Furious is from 1375, in Chaucer's Anelida and Arcite.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1374 – a fierce passion.^[7]
• 1375 – furious.^[2]
• c. 1380 – a Fury.^[2]
• 1534 – rage in war.^[7]
• 1585 – the fury of a storm.^[7]
• 1840 – like fury.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Violent, uncontrolled anger; rage.
2. An outburst of such anger.
3. Uncontrolled violence: the fury of the storm.
4. A person, especially a woman, with a violent temper.
5. (Greek and Roman mythology) One of the Furies, the avenging goddesses.
6. like fury (informal): furiously.

Word family

• furious

Related words

• Furies
• infuriate

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press