furia

Forms

furia f (plural furie)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian ffuria and Old Italian furi.^[2]

Etymology

It is learned: it is borrowed from Latin furia (“fury, frenzy; blind passion”), together with its derivative furiōsus, which gave furioso.^[3][4][5][1] The Latin noun is formed from furō (“to rave, be out of one's mind”).^[3][4][1] De Vaan lists the noun, recorded from Ennius, among the derivatives of the verb, and finds none of the many proposed etymologies of the verb clearly the best.^[6]

The inherited outcome of the same Latin word is foia (“lust, sexual heat”), so the two are doublets.^[3][4][1][7] Körting notes that the Latin word survives in popular form only in that Italian word and is otherwise known only as a learned borrowing.^[8] The same learned word is French furie and Spanish furia.^[4]

For the mythological sense the Latin plural Furiae was a synonym of Dirae and rendered the Greek name of the Erinyes, Ancient Greek Ἐρινύες (Erinúes).^[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first dated sense is “an infernal, devilish being”, in Giamboni, before 1292; the TLIO's first record is in the Milanese poems of Bonvesin de la Riva, of the late 13th century.^[3][2] Dante, before 1321, has both “a violent onrush” and “an angry, raging person”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The TLIO's Old Italian senses run from the three Furies of myth, and a person or feeling likened to them, to a disturbance of the mind that drives one to violent, unruly behaviour, insanity, the frenzy of love or desire, and the violence of wind and storm.^[2] The sense “fit of anger, usually short” is dated by DELI to Simintendi, before 1333, and “great haste” to Boccaccio, before 1375.^[3] DEI dates furia “ugly woman” and “angry person” to the 16th century.^[9]

The haste sense is now colloquial: in fretta e furia means “in a great hurry”, and a furia di expresses a repeated action, “by dint of”.^[5][11][12] French borrowed the Italian word as furia in 1867.^[13]

Timeline

• Before 1292 – Giamboni uses furia for an infernal being.^[3]
• Late 13th century – Bonvesin de la Riva uses the word in his Milanese poems.^[2]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it for a violent onrush and for an enraged person.^[3]
• Before 1333 – The sense “fit of anger” is recorded in Simintendi.^[3]
• Before 1375 – Boccaccio uses furia for great haste.^[3]
• 16th century – The figurative senses “ugly woman” and “angry person” appear.^[9]
• 1867 – French furia is first recorded.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. fury, rage: an uncontrolled fit of anger that breaks out in sudden violent words or acts: Nella furia ruppe tutti i piatti.^[5][14][11]
2. The blind, violent force of a passion: la furia della gelosia.^[5][15]
3. A violent, sweeping force, especially of nature: la furia del mare.^[5][16][15]
4. (colloquial) Great haste, hurry: Perché tanta furia di uscire?^[5][16][11]
5. A person seized by rage or passion, like one of the Furies: Quando l'ha saputo è diventata una furia.^[5][14][16]
6. (mythology) With a capital, each of the three Furies of Roman myth, goddesses of vengeance, matching the Greek Erinyes.^[14][11][17]
7. (heraldry) A monstrous imaginary figure.^[5][14]

Word family

• furioso
• infuriare
• infuriato
• sfuriare
• sfuriata
• furiale

Related words

• furibondo
• furore
• foia
• furente

Usage notes

Common phrases are andare su tutte le furie “to fly into a rage”, in fretta e furia “in great haste” and a furia di “by dint of”.^[5][11][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
9. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1738
10. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
11. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
13. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
14. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
15. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
16. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
17. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli