flame

Pronunciation

• IPA: /fleɪm/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English flamme, flaume, flambe,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman flaume (“a flame”), flaumbe, Old French flame, flambe,^[3][2][4] from Latin flammula (“small flame”), diminutive of flamma (“flame, blazing fire”),^[3][2] from *flagmā, related to flagrāre, to burn (see flagrant),^[2][4] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *bhleg- (“to shine, flash”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A blazing fire: about 1303, in Mannyng's Handlyng Synne;^[2] a flame, the mid-14th century in Etymonline.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Fire in general, and figuratively the heat of emotion, are from the late 14th century,^[3] and the flames of hell or purgatory from 1382.^[5] The flames, destruction by burning, is from 1483.^[5] A sweetheart, the object of one's passion, is from the 1640s;^[3] the figurative sense burning passion was already in Middle English, as in Old French and Latin.^[3] The verb, to blaze, is from about 1303,^[2] and to burst out in passion from the 1540s.^[3] To flame out, of jet engines, is from 1950,^[3] and to send abusive messages on a computer network from the 1980s.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1303 – a fire; the verb.^[2]
• late 14th century – passion.^[3]
• 1540s – to break out in passion.^[3]
• 1640s – a sweetheart.^[3]
• 1950 – flame out.^[3]
• 1980s – to flame online.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A hot, glowing mass of burning gas; the visible part of a fire.
2. (flames) The state of burning: to burst into flames.
3. Strong feeling; passion.
4. (informal) A sweetheart: an old flame.

Verb

1. To burn brightly; to blaze.
2. To flush or glow suddenly, as with colour.
3. (computing, informal) To send an abusive message.

Word family

• flamer
• flameless
• flamelike
• flaming

Related words

• flamboyant
• flamingo
• flammable
• oriflamme
• phlegm
• phlogiston
• phlox
• inflame
• flagrant

Usage notes

In Dorset dialect flame was a pronunciation of phlegm, a cold.^[6]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)