You searched for: “furies
Fury (s) (noun), Furies (pl)
The three avenging spirits: The name of each Fury was Alecto , the Relentless; Tisiphone, the Blood-Avenger; and Megaera, the Grudge-Bearer; also known as the Erinyes in Greek mythology.

The three Furies were born from Uranus' blood

From Uranus' severed manhood (or godhood), fell countless drops of blood, which spattered all over Gaia and resulted in the existence of three hideous, winged females who were avenging deities and who pursued and punished the criminally guilty, especially murderers.

No more fearsome figures darkened the night scape of Greek mythology than those of the Erinyes. Born of the blood-drops from the emasculation (castration) of Uranus, with snakes coiled in their hair, they roamed the land avenging perjury and murder and carrying out the curses of parent against son.

Neither prayer nor tears could sway them, nor sacrifice stave off (prevent) their wrath. Often they were referred to by a euphemism meant to deprecate a visit from them, as the Eumenides, "the well-disposed".

The sisters were avengers of "bad behavior"

These Furies were agents of vengeance, pitiless, inexorable but just; horrible creatures, winged with snakes in their hair, black, their eyes dripping with blood, and with a wretchedly foul odor.

The Furies avenged a variety of crimes: murder, violation of oaths, incivility to guests, the aged, or the poor; but their most active avenging concerned crimes against relatives; especially, against parents.

The Furies would pursue their victim relentlessly with whips and torches in their hands and did not allow a person any peace until he or she was driven mad (insane).

The Furies gave English a variety of words via Latin

The Romans called these vengeful goddesses the Dirae, from dirus, source of and synonymous with the English word dire; or Furiae, from furere, "to rage".

The singular Latin form, furia, provided English with the word "fury", via the intermediate stage of French furie.

The term "rage" came into English from the same route, although here the French sound-changes made the connection to the Latin etymon "unrecognizable"; that is, the French rage goes back to Latin rabies, "frenzy, ferocity"; also the immediate source of the English modern medical term.


—Compiled from information in the following sources:
Webster's Word Histories, Merriam-Webster Inc., Publishers
Springfield, Massachusetts; 1989.
Mythology, Greek and Roman by Robert J. Gula and Thomas H. Carpenter;
Longman Inc.; New York & London; 1977.
The Encyclopedia of Classical Mythology;
Prentice-Hall, Inc.; Englewood Cliffs, N.J.; 1965.
This entry is located in the following unit: fur-, furi- (page 1)
fury (s) (noun), furies (pl)
1. A feeling of intense or violent anger: Hell hath no fury like a woman who is scorned.
2. The condition of being wild or turbulent: The fury of the winter storm caused many trees that were overloaded with snow to fall down and to cover the roadways in the northern part of the country.
3. A state of violent mental agitation: After hearing about her daughter’s accidental death, Mary’s thoughts and feelings were all in a fury because she didn't have anyone to talk to.
4. A situation of excited or frenetic activity: The debris was scattered by the tornado's fury.
This entry is located in the following unit: fur-, furi- (page 1)
Word Entries at Get Words containing the term: “furies
Erinyes, Eumenides; the Furies;
In Greek mythology, three terrifying snake-haired winged goddesses, named Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone, who mercilessly punished wrongdoing, especially when committed within families.

Eumenides meant "the kindly ones". We now use the word "euphemism" to describe words which do not say the unpleasant idea intended.

From Greek euphemismos, "use of a favorable word in place of an inauspicious one"; from euphemizein "to speak with fair words", from eu-, "good" + pheme, "speaking", from phanai, "to speak".

In ancient Greece, the superstitious avoidance of words of ill-omen during religious ceremonies, or substitutions; such as, Eumenides, "the Gracious Ones" with reference to the Furies.

In English, a rhetorical term at first; broader sense of "choosing a less distasteful word or phrase than the one meant" was first established or documented in 1793.

This entry is located in the following unit: Words from the Greek Myths (page 1)