furioso

Forms

furioso (feminine furiosa, masculine plural furiosos, feminine plural furiosas, metaphonic)^[1] 15th-century texts write furiosso and foriozo; letters of 1619 and 1674 have furiozo.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin furiōsus (“mad, raving, furious”).^[2][1][4] The Latin adjective is formed from furia (“rage, madness”) with the suffix -ōsus, and the noun in turn from furō (“to rage”).^[5][1]

The same Latin word gave Spanish furioso, Galician furioso, Catalan furiós, Italian furioso and French furieux.^[6][7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the word to the 15th century from Cunha's medieval slips, in the spellings furiosso and foriozo.^[2] Its first sense was “possessed by fury”, raging.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Latin furiosus was also a legal term for a madman, and Bluteau (1712–1728) still glosses doudo furioso “raving madman” with Latin words for frenzy.^[5][8] Morais (1813) has the soul “stirred by great passion”, the raving madman who strikes out, and winds, waves and storms of great force.^[9] The original Caldas Aulete adds “enthusiastic, passionate about something” (furioso pela boa música) and “great, extraordinary”.^[10] In Rio Grande do Sul it is also said of a mad dog and of an excessively strong wind.^[11]

Timeline

• 15th century – first records, spelt furiosso and foriozo.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso enters furioso with Latin furiosus and furibundus.^[12]
• 1619 – furiozo in a private letter.^[3]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau lists doudo furioso.^[8]
• 1813 – Morais records the senses “very violent” and “very active” of winds and storms.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Seized by fúria, raging.^[2][13]
2. Very angry, enraged, indignant: Ficou furioso com a notícia.^[2][14][1]
3. Carried away by passion; violent, impetuous: um vento furioso.^[2][15][1]
4. Passionately keen on something, enthusiastic.^[13][16]
5. (figurative) Excessive, extraordinary.^[14][13]

Noun

1. A person who has lost their reason; a raving madman.^[14][16]
2. (Portugal) A passionate supporter.^[17][16]

Word family

• furiosamente

Related words

• enfurecer
• fúria
• furibundo
• Latin furiōsus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. furioso
3. ^ a b CLUL (ed.) (2014), P.S. Post Scriptum: Arquivo Digital de Escrita Quotidiana em Portugal e Espanha na Época Moderna, Lisboa: Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, http://ps.clul.ul.pt, p. s.v. furioso
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. furioso
5. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. furiōsus
6. ^ Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. furioso
7. ^ Estraviz, Isaac Alonso, Dicionário Estraviz, https://estraviz.org, p. s.v. furioso
8. ^ a b Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. furioso
9. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 70
10. ^ Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. furioso
11. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. furioso
12. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. furioso
13. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. furioso
14. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. furioso
15. ^ Michaelis: Moderno Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, São Paulo: Melhoramentos (online as Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa, https://michaelis.uol.com.br), p. s.v. furioso
16. ^ a b c Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 4537
17. ^ Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. furioso