fiera

Forms

fiera f (plural fieras)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin fera (“wild animal”), the feminine of the adjective ferus (“wild”) used as a noun.^[2][1][3] Covarrubias explained it as the adjective with bestia “beast” understood, and Corominas treats it with the adjective fiero, which Spanish has had since the Cid.^[4][5][6] The stressed short /e/ of the Latin became /ie/.^[1]

The same Latin noun is Portuguese fera, Catalan fera, Italian fiera and Romanian fiară.^[7][8]

De Vaan derives the Latin adjective from Proto-Italic *χwero- and Proto-Indo-European *ǵhueh₁r- (“wild animal”), the source also of Ancient Greek θήρ (thḗr) and of the Baltic and Slavic words for “wild animal”.^[9][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the noun from 1335.^[5] The earlier texts have fiera only as the feminine of the adjective, as in the bestias fieras “wild beasts” of the Fazienda de Ultra Mar and Alfonso X's Lapidario.^[10][11] In 1591 Percyvall translates it “a wilde beast”.^[12]

Semantic evolution

Covarrubias in 1611 recorded the figurative use for a cruel person, no es hombre sino fiera, and also for an ugly woman.^[4] In thieves' slang the plural fieras meant the officers of the law, a sense the Diccionario de Autoridades took from Juan Hidalgo's vocabulary of 1609.^[13] The Academy's 1899 edition added the zoological sense, the carnivorous mammals.^[14]

In Mexico and Cuba una fiera came to mean a bold, unscrupulous person and someone who excels at something.^[15][16] This last sense is now general colloquial Spanish, and in Spain it is also masculine, un fiera for a man.^[2] Bullfighting uses la fiera for the bull; in Mexico and Colombia it is a disparaging word for a wife or girlfriend.^[17][18]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the adjective fiero, in the Cantar de mio Cid.^[5][10]
• 1335 – first record of the noun.^[5]
• 1591 – Percyvall glosses it “a wilde beast”.^[12]
• 1609 – Hidalgo's slang vocabulary has fieras for officers of justice.^[13]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records its use for a cruel person.^[4]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology from Latin fera.^[19]
• 1899 – the Academy adds the zoological sense.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. (zoology) A carnivore (carnívoro), a mammal with claws.^[2]
2. A wild or aggressive animal; a beast: Los pastores encendieron hogueras para alejar a las fieras.^[2][1]
3. A cruel person, or one of violent temper.^[2][1]
4. (colloquial) A person who stands out in some field; in Spain also masculine, un fiera: Mi prima es una fiera en química.^[2][1]
5. (bullfighting) The bull (toro).^[17]
6. (Mexico, Colombia, derogatory) A wife or girlfriend.^[18]

Related words

• ferino
• fiero
• feroz
• Latin ferus
• Italian fiera

Usage notes

Hecho una fiera or como una fiera means “furious”; a fiera corrupia is one of the grotesque animal figures paraded at popular festivals; a casa de fieras is a menagerie or zoo.^[2][17] Fiera is also the feminine of the adjective fiero.^[6][5] Lanchetas read the fiera barata of Berceo's Signos as a transposition of feria “market”.^[20]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. fiera
3. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 844
5. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. fiero
6. ^ a b Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. fiera
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3264
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 2731
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. fiera
11. ^ Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. fiero
12. ^ a b Percyvall, Richard (1591), Bibliothecae Hispanicae pars altera: containing a dictionarie in Spanish, English and Latine, London: John Jackson for Richard Watkins, p. 142
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 746
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 459
15. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1942), Diccionario general de americanismos, 3 vols., México: Pedro Robredo, p. 638
16. ^ Ortiz, Fernando (1923), Un catauro de cubanismos: apuntes lexicográficos, La Habana, p. 76
17. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. fiera
18. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. fiera
19. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 495
20. ^ Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, p. 369