Why do we say "put out a fire"?

Question

I came across this in an EFL text book, in an exercise that required the student to link a phrasal verb with the correct object, and it struck me as not at all obvious.
The most common usage of 'out' and 'put out' is connected to moving something.
Wikitionary suggests that it is connected with actively making something "go out" or die.
'Extinguish' also uses the 'ex' or 'out' adverb. Are we moving the 'life' of the fire out of its material location? Like we 'put some creature out of her/his misery'?

JEL · Accepted Answer

Historically, the proximate origin of 'to put out' in the transitive sense of "extinguish (something burning, or giving off light); to douse; to turn off (an electric light)" appears to be natural development of the somewhat earlier, related but now obsolete (according to OED) transitive sense, "to put an end to; to destroy, abolish, obliterate" (definitions of 'to put out' from OED, 7b and 7a).
OED supplies an early attestation for the "put an end to" sense (7a) from sometime before 1398:

His [sc. goottes] galle putteþ oute [L. depellitur] dymnesse of yhen.
(My translation: His [scilicet buck goat] gall puts out dimness of eyes.)
J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 277.

Although I was unable to find an online copy of the Trevisa translation cited in OED, I did find a later translation, published in 1582, with this statement (see p. 388, scan p. 710, right, mid-column):

His [Goat bucke] gall cleereth the sight, and fretteth awaye the webbes of the eyen....
(My translation: His [male goat] gall clears the sight, and destroys ["fretteth"] the clouding ["webbes"] of the eyes.)

The earliest attestation given in OED for 'put out' in the sense (7b) of "extinguish, douse [something glowing]" is from sometime before 1500, with a probable composition date sometime before 1450:

But ofte sithe the tyraunt, that is, the devel, putteth out the fire of charitee and the watir of contriccion, and casteth it ferre a-way fro the hertes of many....
(My translation: But many a time the tyrant, that is, the devil, puts out the fire of charity and the water of contrition, and casts it far away from the hearts of many....)
From The Early English Versions of the Gesta Romanorum, Sidney J.H. Herrtage, London, 1879.

Cypress Butane · Answer

Possibly the expression arose from some of the same etymological origins of the verb extinguish. 'Ex' meaning 'out', and subsequent parts from ancient PIE (proto-Indo-European language) meaning to prick.
extinguish (v.)
"to put out, quench, stifle," 1540s, from Latin extinguere/exstinguere "quench, put out (what is burning); wipe out, obliterate," from ex "out" (see ex-) + stinguere "quench," apparently an evolved sense from PIE *steig- "to prick, stick, pierce" (see stick (v.)). But see distinguish (v.). Related: Extinguished; extinguishing.
The sense of motion of 'putting out' could simply have arisen naturally somewhat from the motion of poking the fire until it goes out. Since long ago they might not have easy access to water to pour over a fire.

Greybeard · Answer

"Out" was first recorded somewhere around the 9th century:
Paulus Orosius · Historiarum adversum paganos libri septem ·(BL Add.) (1980) i. i. 9   Seo ea Danai..wið eastan ut on þa sæ floweð þe mon hętt Euxinus.
Looking at all the examples in the OED for “out” (adv. / adj.), it has a common thread of meaning that is always relative[1] and indicating
(i) the separation of an essential quality or original state
(ii)    by its movement away,
(iii)   from the original position or state and
(iv)    to or into
(v) a converse or contrasting position or state:
1991   R. Doyle Van (1992) 129   She showed him..how to always peel out, away from your body, so you don't stab yourself.  - The original was ‘movement towards’
1981   Encounter Apr. 3/1   When he reached the house, he gave a long whistle and out Crispin came.  - Crispin's original state was ‘within’
1957   Screen Printer & Display Producer July 1/1   It was never the intention of the Union to call all its members out. – The members were “in” the place of work.
1 1990   S. Jamba Patriots (1992) xxi. 182   They felt that they had been singled out as the weaklings of the group. 2 2020 Greybeard EL&U  I spent the morning sorting out the good apples from the bad. The members/apples were in a group, now some are outside the group.
1841   C. Dickens Old Curiosity Shop i. xxviii. 251   Mrs. Jarley..formally invested her with a willow wand, long used by herself for pointing out the characters. The characters were in one homogeneous group/state and now individuals have been distinguished.
1994   N.Y. Times 14 Aug. iii. 1/1   A member could work one or two of those sessions, and lease out the right to trade in the others. = Away from themselves
1994   Canad. Workshop Aug. 19/2 (caption)    It seemed a logical step for them to buy out the manufacturer and move the business. - To separate by purchasing
To understand “He put the fire out”, is should be understood  that  to put = to place in a location or state = He changed the state of the fire from being “in” (i.e. in the state of combustion) to being out.
[1]In the same way that "Good" indicates a preferable quality only by its contrast with "bad" (or similar words), so "out" exists as having a meaning only in its contrast to "in".

Why do we say "put out a fire"?

3 Answers

Add your own answers!

Ask a Question