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Donna Richoux
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2005 7:27 pm
Post subject: interesting etymology |
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I've started going to a small French conversation class, and last night
the discussion naturally turned to the terrible riots that have been
going on all over France for two weeks.
The teacher said something about how now it was better because they had
the "couvre-feu," and I was totally at a loss. The what? "Le couvre-feu,
couvre-feu." Literally it means "the cover-fire," so my mind tried "Take
cover" and "to give covering fire," but they didn't fit what I knew.
Finally something clicked -- couvre-feu, curfew! The authorities had
begun to impose curfews and that was having an effect.
I had never asked myself what the origin of "curfew" was. So I looked it
up when I got home:
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French
coverfeu, signal given to bank the hearth fire,
curfew, from coverir to cover + fu, feu fire, from
Latin focus hearth
Date: 14th century
I suppose I'm still a bit puzzled as to people in medieval times needed
a signal to bank the hearth fire...
--
Best -- Donna Richoux
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Jim Lawton
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2005 7:36 pm
Post subject: Re: interesting etymology |
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On Thu, 10 Nov 2005 13:27:26 +0100, trio@euronet.nl (Donna Richoux) wrote:
| Quote: | I've started going to a small French conversation class, and last night
the discussion naturally turned to the terrible riots that have been
going on all over France for two weeks.
The teacher said something about how now it was better because they had
the "couvre-feu," and I was totally at a loss. The what? "Le couvre-feu,
couvre-feu." Literally it means "the cover-fire," so my mind tried "Take
cover" and "to give covering fire," but they didn't fit what I knew.
Finally something clicked -- couvre-feu, curfew! The authorities had
begun to impose curfews and that was having an effect.
I had never asked myself what the origin of "curfew" was. So I looked it
up when I got home:
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French
coverfeu, signal given to bank the hearth fire,
curfew, from coverir to cover + fu, feu fire, from
Latin focus hearth
Date: 14th century
I suppose I'm still a bit puzzled as to people in medieval times needed
a signal to bank the hearth fire...
|
One reason was to prevent fire in the night, I think. I guess the practice had
died out by 1666.
--
Jim
a Yorkshire polymoth |
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Alec McKenzie
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2005 7:48 pm
Post subject: Re: interesting etymology |
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trio@euronet.nl (Donna Richoux) wrote:
| Quote: | I suppose I'm still a bit puzzled as to people in medieval times needed
a signal to bank the hearth fire...
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Time for bed...
--
Alec McKenzie
un411.e.armck@xoxy.net
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Mark Brader
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2005 6:23 am
Post subject: Re: interesting etymology |
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Donna Richoux writes:
| Quote: | ...discussion naturally turned to the terrible riots that have been
going on all over France...
The teacher said something about how now it was better because they had
the "couvre-feu," and I was totally at a loss. The what? "Le couvre-feu,
couvre-feu." Literally it means "the cover-fire," ...
Finally something clicked -- couvre-feu, curfew! The authorities had
begun to impose curfews and that was having an effect.
|
Yes, it's definitely put a lid on things.
(Sorry)
--
Mark Brader "...there are other means of persuasion
msb@vex.net besides killing and threatening to kill."
Toronto --Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon |
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John Dean
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2005 7:02 am
Post subject: Re: interesting etymology |
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Donna Richoux wrote:
| Quote: | I've started going to a small French conversation class, and last
night the discussion naturally turned to the terrible riots that have
been going on all over France for two weeks.
The teacher said something about how now it was better because they
had the "couvre-feu," and I was totally at a loss. The what? "Le
couvre-feu, couvre-feu." Literally it means "the cover-fire," so my
mind tried "Take cover" and "to give covering fire," but they didn't
fit what I knew.
Finally something clicked -- couvre-feu, curfew! The authorities had
begun to impose curfews and that was having an effect.
I had never asked myself what the origin of "curfew" was. So I looked
it up when I got home:
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French
coverfeu, signal given to bank the hearth fire,
curfew, from coverir to cover + fu, feu fire, from
Latin focus hearth
Date: 14th century
I suppose I'm still a bit puzzled as to people in medieval times
needed a signal to bank the hearth fire...
|
OED says " The primary purpose of the curfew appears to have been the
prevention of conflagrations arising from domestic fires left
unextinguished at night. The earliest English quotations make no
reference to the original sense of the word; the curfew being already in
13th c. merely a name for the ringing of the evening bell, and the time
so marked. "
It seems rather pointless to be reminding people that it's bedtime so I
suspect, like much legislation, this one is not intended to encourage a
particular form of behaviour but to provide an excuse to punish those
who do not behave as required.
--
John Dean
Oxford |
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