Etymologically
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flame

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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

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)