fire

fire
(n.)
Old English
fyr
"fire, a fire," from Proto-Germanic
*fūr-
(source also of Old Saxon
fiur
, Old Frisian
fiur
, Old Norse
fürr
, Middle Dutch and Dutch
vuur
, Old High German
fiur
, German
Feuer
"fire"), from PIE
*perjos
, from root
*paewr-
"fire." Current spelling is attested as early as 1200, but did not fully displace Middle English
fier
(preserved in
fiery
) until c. 1600.
PIE apparently had two roots for fire:
*paewr-
and
*egni-
(source of Latin
ignis
). The former was "inanimate," referring to fire as a substance, and the latter was "animate," referring to it as a living force (compare
water
(n.1)).
Brend child fuir fordredeþ ["The Proverbs of Hendyng," c. 1250]
English
fire
was applied to "ardent, burning" passions or feelings from mid-14c. Meaning "discharge of firearms, action of guns, etc." is from 1580s. To be
on fire
is from c. 1500 (
in fire
attested from c. 1400, as is
on a flame
"on fire"). To
play with fire
in the figurative sense "risk disaster, meddle carelessly or ignorantly with a dangerous matter" is by 1861, from the common warning to children. Phrase
where's the fire?
, said to one in an obvious hurry, is by 1917, American English.
Fire-bell
is from 1620s;
fire-alarm
as a self-acting, mechanical device is from 1808 as a theoretical creation; practical versions began to appear in the early 1830s.
Fire-escape
(n.) is from 1788 (the original so-called was a sort of rope-ladder disguised as a small settee);
fire-extinguisher
is from 1826. A
fire-bucket
(1580s) carries water to a fire.
Fire-house
is from 1899;
fire-hall
from 1867,
fire-station
from 1828.
Fire company
"men for managing a fire-engine" is from 1744, American English.
Fire brigade
"firefighters organized in a body in a particular place" is from 1838.
Fire department
, usually a branch of local government, is from 1805.
Fire-chief
is from 1877;
fire-ranger
from 1887.
Symbolic
fire and the sword
is by c. 1600 (translating Latin
flamma ferroque absumi
); earlier
yron and fyre
(1560s),
with suerd & flawme
(mid-15c.),
mid fure & mid here
("with fire and armed force"), c. 1200.
Fire-breathing
is from 1590s. To
set the river on fire
, "accomplish something surprising or remarkable" (usually with a negative and said of one considered foolish or incompetent) is by 1830, often with the name of a river, varying according to locality, but the original is
set the Thames on fire
(1778).
The hypothetical feat was mentioned as the type of something impossibly difficult by 1720; it circulated as a theoretical possibility under some current models of chemistry c. 1792-95, which may have contributed to the rise of the expression.
[A]mong other fanciful modes of demonstrating the practicability of conducting the gas wherever it might be required, [Mr. Henfry] anchored a small boat in the stream about 50 yards from the shore, to which he conveyed a pipe, having the end turned up so as to rise above the water, and forcing the gas through the pipe, lighted it just above the surface, observing to his friends "that he had now set the river on fire." ["On the Origins and Progress of Gas-lighting," in "Repertory of Patent Inventions," vol. III, London, 1827]

fire
(v.)
c. 1200,
furen
, "arouse, inflame, excite" (a figurative use); literal sense of "set fire to" is attested from late 14c., from
fire
(n.). The Old English verb
fyrian
"to supply with fire" apparently did not survive into Middle English. Related:
Fired
;
firing
.
Meaning "expose to the effects of heat or fire" (of bricks, pottery, etc.) is from 1660s. Meaning "to discharge artillery or a firearm" (originally by application of fire) is from 1520s; extended sense of "to throw (as a missile)" is from 1580s.
Fire away
in the figurative sense of "go ahead" is from 1775.
The sense of "sack, dismiss from employment" is recorded by 1877 (with
out
; 1879 alone) in American English. This probably is a play on the two meanings of
discharge
(v.): "to dismiss from a position," and "to
fire
a gun," influenced by the earlier general sense "throw (someone) out" of some place (1871). To
fire out
"drive out by or as if by fire" (1520s) is in Shakespeare and Chapman.
Fired up
"angry" is from 1824 (to
fire up
"become angry" is from 1798).
also from c. 1200