fiero

Forms

fiero (feminine fiera, masculine plural fieri, feminine plural fiere, superlative fierissimo)^[1] The older and poetic form is Old Italian fero.^[2][3][4][1] Old Italian also has fier and feru.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Italian fero, inherited from Latin ferus (“wild, savage”).^[6][7][8][1] The diphthong ⟨ie⟩ is the regular Tuscan outcome of a stressed /ɛ/ in an open syllable.^[9] The same word is French fier, Occitan fer, Catalan fer, Spanish fiero and Portuguese fero; the adjective has not survived in Romanian, which kept only the noun fera (“wild beast”) as Romanian fiară.^[7][10][11]

The Latin adjective goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰweh₁r- (“wild animal”), through Proto-Italic *xʷeros.^[12][1] Its relatives are Ancient Greek θήρ (thḗr, “wild beast”) and Lithuanian žvėrìs.^[12][13][7] De Vaan explains the short vowel of the Latin word by a shortening before a resonant, and its ending ⟨-rus⟩, kept unlike in vir, by the influence of that noun.^[12][1] Sihler instead takes the adjective as a back-formation from that noun.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur, of the last quarter of the 12th century, and its first sense is “untamed, wild”, said of animals.^[5] DELI dates fero “energetic, bold, haughty” to Guido Guinizelli (before 1276), and fiero to Dante (before 1321).^[6]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the adjective spread from wild animals to rough, uncouth people, and to anyone aggressive and violent.^[5] In a good sense it meant brave, able to face danger and pain; in a bad sense cruel and pitiless; it also meant great or intense, and proud of a success.^[5] Dante used it for what is terrible and frightful, as in the fiero pasto (“grim meal”) of Ugolino.^[6][8]

The literary senses (cruel, fearful, fierce, of animals wild) have faded, and in current Italian the word means dignified and firm in character, and proud of someone or something (fiero di).^[8][2][9][4] In Tuscany it can also mean lively and healthy, of a child.^[14][15] In an Umbrian dialect it still means aggressive, untamed, of animals.^[16] The word entered German as a musical direction.^[17]

Timeline

• Last quarter of the 12th century – The Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur have the word.^[5]
• Before 1250 – Fereza “fierceness” is recorded in Giacomo da Lentini.^[6]
• Before 1276 – Guido Guinizelli uses fero.^[6]
• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni has fierezza.^[6]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses fiero.^[6]
• 1446 – The verb infierire “to rage” is recorded.^[7]
• 1640 – Fiero is recorded as a musical term.^[17]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Showing strength of character and a deep sense of dignity; firm, proud in bearing: una donna fiera e riservata.^[8][2][9][3]
2. Proud of someone or something (with di): Siamo fieri del lavoro di nostra figlia.^{[8][2][9][3][4]}
3. (literary) Bold, fearless.^[8][2][1]
4. (literary) Cruel, pitiless; of fate, hostile.^[8][2][4][1]
5. (literary) Frightful, horrible.^{[8][2][9][3][1]}
6. (literary) fierce, violent, of a fight; furious, of a storm.^[8][2][4][1]
7. (literary) Intense, vehement, of a feeling.^[8][3][1]
8. (literary) Of an animal, wild, ferocious.^[8][2][9]
9. (regional, Tuscany) Lively, healthy, of a child.^[14][15]

Word family

• fierezza
• ferità
• fieramente
• infierire

Related words

• fiera
• Latin ferus
• French fier

Usage notes

Andare fiero di means “to be proud of”.^[3][2] In Old Italian poetry fìero is also a form of saranno, “they will be”, the third person plural future of essere, taken from the verb fire;^[1] fier and fieno are variants.^[1] The related noun fiera “wild beast” continues Latin fera.^[11][18]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
5. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
6. ^ a b c d e f g Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1635
11. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
15. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
16. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Marcato, Carla (1998), I dialetti italiani: dizionario etimologico, Torino: UTET
17. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
18. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca