Etymologically
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fury

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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

  • 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