furie

Forms

furie f (plural furii)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin furia (“rage, fury”), also borrowed from French furie.^[2][1][3][4] Ciorănescu and Wiktionary give Latin, dating the word to the 18th century, while DEX, MDA2 and the neologism dictionaries name both French and Latin, and the DA calls it a new word after French.^{[2][1][3][4][5][6]} Tiktin compares Italian furia as well.^[7]

The Latin noun is formed from furō (“to rage”) with the suffix -ia; in the plural it named the Furies, the goddesses who punish crimes.^[1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1703.^[7] An early quotation is furia războiului “the fury of war” in Ianache Văcărescu's history of the Ottoman emperors, which MDA2 gives as its first record.^[7][6][4]

Semantic evolution

The core sense is uncontrolled anger, a fit of rage in which one loses self-control; from it come “violence” and the adverbial phrase cu furie “furiously, with unchecked force”.^[3][4] The DA records it of things in motion, such as a spreading fire, and of an excessive passion, a sense DEX marks as rare.^[6][3] The Furies of Roman mythology keep the word's Latin sense.^[4][9] Older dictionaries also give a figurative “wicked, furious woman”.^[10][11]

The adjective furios “furious” and furibund come from French; the verb înfuria “to enrage” looks like a modern derivative of furie but is widely used in popular speech.^[2]

Timeline

• 1703 – the first record, according to Tiktin.^[7]
• 1870 – Cihac lists furie with furios and înfuria.^[12]
• 1886 – Barcianu glosses the plural as the Furies and asta e o furie as “she is a shrew”.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. fury, rage: a state of extreme irritation in which one loses self-control; uncontrolled anger, violence.^[3][4][1]
2. (figurative, rare) A strong, unrestrained desire; a passion.^[3][4]
3. Violent motion of things: furia valurilor “the fury of the waves”.^[4][6]
4. (mythology) Each of the three goddesses of the underworld, the Furies, who tormented the souls of sinners.^[4][9]

Word family

• furios
• înfuria
• furibund

Usage notes

The usual stress is on the first syllable, fúrie, but furíe is also accepted.^[3][4] Cu furie means “furiously, with unchecked force”: Vântul sufla cu furie toată noaptea.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. furie
3. ^ a b c d e f g h DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 421
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 955
5. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. furie
6. ^ a b c d Academia Română (1913–1949), Dicționarul limbii române (DA), ed. Sextil Pușcariu, tom I (A–B, C, D–De) and tom II (F–I, J–Lojniță), București: Socec / Universul / Monitorul Oficial și Imprimeriile Statului; page scans at cflr-scans.solirom.ro, p. s.v. furie
7. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. furie
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. furie
10. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 535
11. ^ a b Barcianu, Sava Popovici (1886), Dicționar român-germân și germân-român, revised by D. P. Barcianu, part I: român-germân, Sibiu: Institut tipografic, p. 242
12. ^ Cihac, A. de (1870), Dictionnaire d'étymologie daco-romane I: Éléments latins comparés avec les autres langues romanes, Frankfurt am Main, p. 105