ira

Forms

ira f (plural iras)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin īra (“anger, rage”).^[2][3][4][1] Corominas counts it a popular word throughout the Middle Ages, used by Berceo, Juan Manuel and Juan Ruiz, though it has since dropped out of everyday speech.^[2] Autoridades, by contrast, called it a purely Latin word.^[5]

The same Latin word is Portuguese ira, Galician ira, Catalan ira, Italian ira and Old French ire.^[6][7]

The Latin noun, which Plautus spells eira, goes back to Proto-Italic *eizā and Proto-Indo-European *h₁eys-.^[1][8] De Vaan reconstructs *h₁eish₂- (“anger”) and compares Ancient Greek οἶμα (oîma, “rush, swoop”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record is a charter of Oña of 1100.^[2][10] In the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) it means the king's disfavour: en ira del rey Alfonso yo seré metido “I shall fall into King Alfonso's disfavour”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

In medieval law ira del rey was the king's withdrawal of favour, which brought exile: the Cortes of Benavente of 1202 deal with a man who cayare en ira del Rey “falls into the king's disfavour” and must leave the kingdom.^[11] The derived verb airar meant both “to anger” and “to withdraw the lord's protection from a vassal”, which led to airado “outlaw” and to the phrase vida airada “life of the underworld”.^[3][2]

Covarrubias (1611) defined it as choler, anger and sudden fury, and repeated a guess that it came from the verb “to go”.^[12] Autoridades (1734) called it one of the seven deadly sins and also used it for punishment taken in revenge.^[5] The Academy's 1884 edition recorded the proverb A ira de Dios no hay casa fuerte “against God's wrath no house is strong”.^[13] Today it also names the fury of the elements, and the plural repeated acts of rage or revenge.^[4]

Timeline

• 1100 – first record, in a charter of Oña.^[2][10]
• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses it for the king's disfavour.^[11]
• 1202 – the Cortes of Benavente, the first record in a contemporary text.^[11]
• c. 1230 – Berceo's Vida de San Millán speaks of la ira de Christo.^[11]
• 1541 – the first record from the Americas, in Michoacán.^[14]
• 1591 – Percyvall glosses it “anger”.^[15]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines it.^[12]
• 1734 – Autoridades lists it among the seven deadly sins.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. anger, wrath: a feeling of indignation and rage: La injusticia le llenó de ira.^[4][16][1]
2. A desire for revenge.^[4]
3. The fury of the elements: la ira del mar.^[4][17]
4. (in the plural) Repeated acts of rage or revenge; outbursts of anger: las iras del público.^[4][17]

Word family

• airar
• airado

Related words

• iracundo
• irascible
• English ire

Usage notes

¡Ira de Dios! is an exclamation of surprise at something excessive, especially when it is feared to bring harm.^[4] In Costa Rica el ira, a masculine noun probably of indigenous origin, names a timber tree.^[18][19]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 468
3. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. ira
4. ^ 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. ira
5. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 308
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. ira
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 4542
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
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 Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. ira
11. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. ira
12. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1052
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 608
14. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. ira
15. ^ Percyvall, Richard (1591), Bibliothecae Hispanicae pars altera: containing a dictionarie in Spanish, English and Latine, London: John Jackson for Richard Watkins, p. 159
16. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. ira
17. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. ira
18. ^ Gagini, Carlos (1893), Diccionario de barbarismos y provincialismos de Costa Rica, San José: Tipografía Nacional, p. 392
19. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1942), Diccionario general de americanismos, 3 vols., México: Pedro Robredo, p. 126