furens

Forms

furēns (genitive furentis); third-declension one-termination adjective^[1][2] Virgil has the genitive plural furentum.^[1]

Etymology

It is the present participle of furō (“to rage, be mad”), used as an adjective.^[1][3] The origin of the verb is unclear: de Vaan finds none of the many proposals convincing, and the OLD doubtfully compares Old Church Slavonic бура (burja, “storm”).^[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first example is Cicero, of the “frenzied and flighty attacks” of an opponent.^[1][3]

Semantic evolution

Used of persons it means mad, out of one's mind, and of actions and passions frenzied, as Catullus' “raging frenzy” and Phaedrus' “onrush of furious anger”.^[1] Köbler records it as an adjective in Claudian and in medieval authors such as Bede and Hrabanus Maurus.^[3]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of frenzied attacks.^[1][3]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus of raging frenzy.^[1][3]
• c. 400 AD – Claudian.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Mad, raging, frenzied, (as noun) a madman.^[1][2]

Related words

• furō
• furor
• furia
• furiōsus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill