Origin and history of desperado

"to lose hope, be without hope," mid-14c., despeiren, from Old French despeir-, stressed stem of desperer "be dismayed, lose hope, despair," from Latin desperare "to despair, to lose all hope," from de "without" (see de-) + sperare "to hope," from spes "hope" (from PIE root *spes- "prosperity;" see speed (n.)). Related: Despaired; despairing; despairingly.

word-forming element denoting an action or product of an action, via French, Spanish, or Italian, ultimately from Latin -ata, fem. past-participle ending used in forming nouns. The usual form in French is -ée. The parallel form, -ade, came into French about the 13c. via southern Romanic languages (Spanish, Portuguese, and Provençal -ada, Italian -ata), hence grenade, crusade, ballad, arcade, comrade, balustrade, lemonade, etc.

This foreign suffix ade has been so largely imported, and at a time when the French language had still a certain plastic force, that it has been adopted as a popular suffix, and is still employed to form a crowd of new words, such as promenade, embrassade, glissade, bourrade, &c. [Brachet, "Etymological Dictionary of the French Language," Kitchin transl., Oxford, 1882]

Latin -atus, past-participle suffix of verbs of the 1st conjugation, also became -ade in French (Spanish -ado, Italian -ato) and came to be used as a suffix denoting persons or groups participating in an action (such as brigade, desperado).

in commando, desperado, tornado, and other words of Spanish and Portuguese origin, "person or group participating in an action," ultimately from Latin -atus, past-participle suffix of verbs of the first conjugation (see -ade). Compare sprusado "a dandy" (1660s), from spruce (adj.).