furiosus

Forms

furiōsus (feminine furiōsa, neuter furiōsum, comparative furiōsior, superlative furiōsissimus); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from furia (“rage, fury”) with the suffix -ōsus (“full of”).^[2][3][1] The noun belongs with furō (“to rage”), for which many etymologies have been proposed and none is clearly the best.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Twelve Tables have sī furiōsus est, agnātōrum gentīliumque in eō pecūniāque eius potestās estō, “if a man is mad, his agnates and clansmen shall have power over him and his property”.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

Of people it is out of one's wits, mad or frenzied, and in law a lunatic, as in the Twelve Tables and the praetor's edict, where it is also a noun, a madman or madwoman.^[2][5] Of actions it is mad, wild or uncontrolled, as Cicero's “frenzied drunkenness”.^[2][5] The TLL finds the superlative from Cicero on.^[3]

Church Latin uses it as a noun for a mad or insane person.^[7] Through Old French it gave English furious in the late 14th century.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 450 BC – The Twelve Tables on the property of a madman.^[5][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of a seditious madman and of frenzied drunkenness.^[2][6]
• late 14th century – English furious, through Old French.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Mad, frenzied, raging, furious;^[2][5][1] (law) lunatic;^[2][5][1] furiōsus, furiōsa, a madman, madwoman.^[2][7]
2. Wild, uncontrolled (of actions).^[2][5]

Related words

• furia
• furor
• furō
• furiālis
• īnsānus
• English furious

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com