Etymologically
Log in

ira

This is an old revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 18 October 2026 at 18:58. It may differ significantly from the current version. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Current version Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈiː.ra][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈiː.ra][1]

Forms

īra f (genitive īrae); first declension[1] Plautus has the spelling eira, and Lucretius the genitive īrāī.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *eisā (“anger”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eis-h₂- (“anger”), from the root *h₁eys- (“to set in motion, impel”).[4][1][2][5] The spelling ⟨eira⟩ in Plautus, in a pun on era “mistress”, may reflect an archaic pronunciation with ⟨ē⟩ from ⟨*ei⟩.[4]

Cognate with Avestan aēšma- (“wrath”), Ancient Greek οἶμα (oîma, “rush, swoop”) and οἶστρος (oîstros, “gadfly, frenzy”), Old Norse eisa (“inrush”), Lithuanian aistrà (“violent passion”) and Sanskrit इष् (íṣ-, “refreshment, strength”).[4][2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Naevius on;[4] Plautus writes nē quid in tē malī faxit īra percita, “lest in her roused anger she do you some harm”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Īra is anger, rage and indignation, and in the plural (īrae inter …) bad blood between people.[2] It is also the violence of natural forces (īram caelīque marisque “the rage of sky and sea”).[2] In Church Latin it is the wrath of God and eternal punishment.[6]

English ire, recorded from about 1300, comes from it through Old French ire.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 235–200 BC – First found in Naevius.[4]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus puns on eira and era.[2][4][5]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence: īrae sunt inter Glycērium et gnātum, “there is bad blood between Glycerium and my son”.[2][5]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid: īram caelīque marisque perpetimur.[2][5]
  • c. 1300 – English ire, through Old French.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. anger, rage, wrath, indignation.[2][3][1]
  2. (usually plural) Mutual displeasure, bad blood.[2]
  3. (of natural forces) Violence, rage.[2]
  4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) The wrath of God, eternal punishment.[6]

Word family

  • English ire

Usage notes

Döderlein describes īra as a passion that thirsts for revenge, indignātiō as aroused moral feeling, and stomachātiō as a fit of temper; the angry man (īrātus) appears as an enemy, the indignant one as a judge.[8]

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 i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper