fire

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /faɪə/, US /ˈfaɪ.ɚ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English fir, inherited from Old English fȳr,^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *fūr-,^[2][4] from Proto-Indo-European *paəwr̥ (“fire”).^[4][2] The American Heritage Dictionary explains that Indo-European had a pair of words for fire, one inanimate, for fire as a substance, which English inherited, and one animate and personified, *egni-, the source of Latin ignis and of English ignite.^[4][2] Its relatives include German Feuer and Dutch vuur, and outside Germanic Ancient Greek πῦρ (pûr, “fire”), the source of pyre and pyro-, and Hittite paḫḫur.^[3][5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Fire, a fire: Old English fȳr, about 725.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The spelling fir is found in 1122, and fier about 1250, a spelling kept in fiery.^[3] Fire first appears about 1200, in the Ormulum, but did not fully replace fier until about 1600.^[3][2] “A burnt child dreads the fire” is in the Proverbs of Hendyng (about 1250).^[2] Burning passion has been fire since the mid-14th century,^[2][7] and the shooting of guns since the 1580s.^[2] The verb meant “to rouse, inflame” about 1200 and “to set on fire” in the late 14th century, in Gower;^[2][3] the Old English verb fȳrian, “to supply with fire”, did not survive.^[3][2] “To shoot a gun” is from the 1520s, “to bake (pottery)” from the 1660s, and fire away from 1775.^[2] Fire in the sense “to dismiss from a job” is American, from 1877, probably a play on the two senses of discharge.^[2] Fire escape is from 1788 and fire extinguisher from 1826.^[2] Play with fire is from 1861, and the American where's the fire? from 1917.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 725 – Old English fȳr.^[3]
• c. 1200 – the spelling fire; verb, to inflame.^[3][2]
• mid-14th century – passion.^[2]
• late 14th century – verb, to set on fire.^[2]
• 1520s – to shoot a gun.^[2]
• 1580s – gunfire.^[2]
• 1660s – to bake pottery.^[2]
• 1788 – fire escape.^[2]
• 1877 – to dismiss from a job.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The process of burning, giving out heat, light and flame; combustion.
2. Burning fuel, as in a fireplace or stove.
3. A destructive burning, as of a building.
4. Burning feeling; ardour or enthusiasm.
5. Brilliance, as of a cut gem.
6. The shooting of firearms: under fire.

Verb

1. To set on fire; to ignite.
2. To bake in a kiln.
3. To stir up; to inspire.
4. To shoot a gun or launch a missile; to throw.
5. To dismiss from a job.

Word family

• fireable
• firer
• fireless
• afire
• backfire
• balefire
• bonfire
• brush-fire

Related words

• fiery
• pyre
• pyro-
• ignite
• firework

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press