# Making/ extinguishing a fire



## ThomasK

How do you translate both ? And secondly: how do you use those verbs metaphorically ? 

Dutch: 
- *vuur*
- *stoken* (make, or keep going)/ *blussen*, *doven* (extinguish)

_*Stoken*_ seems related with _stok, _stick: we often use a stick to produce more oxygen in the fire... 
*Blussen* is the traditional verb: the fire brigade _blust_/ extinguishes the fire - and after that their thirst - though mostly _lessen_, not _blussen_. ;-) What I am surprised about is that extinguishing seems to be the first meaning of both _lessen_ and (_be-lessen_ >)_blussen_. I had thought of a parallel with the English lessening, making smaller... 
*Doven* refers to making less audible, quieter, literally (think of deaf in English), the origin of the first is not yet clear to me. But we can use stoken for conflicts (_aanstoken_, pouring oil on the fire), _doven_ for any kind of light, I'd say, and both transitively and intransitively it refers to fading out, but only of light, conflict, maybe sound, but I am not so sure about the latter.


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## Rallino

Turkish:

Making a fire = Ateş yakmak

Yakmak = to light (used also for cigarettes and electric lights.)

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Extinguishing the fire = Ateşi söndürmek

Söndürmek is the causative of _sönmek_: _to diminish, to fade away, to tranquilise._

Sönmek is also used in the contexts:

1. To deflate (for balloons) - when the air in them escapes, they deflate.
2. To turn off (for lights, ciagarette).
3. The adjective "sönük" is used for things or colours that aren't shiny --> dim / faint.*

*This meaning is also used metaphorically for people who aren't popular, or for things that aren't on demand/fashion.


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## apmoy70

In Greek:

*Making (a fire)*: «Ανάβω» (a'navo)--> _to kindle, turn on_; Classical verb «ἀνάπτω» (ă'nāptō)--> _to light up, kindle, inflame_. Compound; preposition and prefix «ἀνὰ» (ā'nă)--> _up, on, upon, throughout, again_ + rare verb «ἅπτω» ('hāptō)--> _to engage in, undertake_ , PIE base *ap-, _to clench, tie round_. The transition from the ancient consonant cluster *-πτ-* to the modern *-β-* is common in Greek. With «ανάβω» we kindle fires, light up lighters, turn on lights, electrical devices etc.
*Extinguishing (a fire)*: «Σβήνω» ('zvino)--> _to put out, turn off, quench, extinguish_; Classical verb «σβέννυμι» ('sbĕnnūmĭ)--> _to dry up, quell, quench_, PIE base *(z)gʷes-, _to quench, extinguish_. With «σβήνω» we quench/extinguish fires, turn off lights, electrical devices etc.


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## ThomasK

Great information, gentlemen (or so I believe)!

- Turkish: great how you use the extinguishing metaphorically in several ways. Is there no word for throwing water on the fire specifically? 
- Greek: interesting to hear that you use it with electric devices (we can do it with _doven,_ I admit_)_


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## sakvaka

*Finnish*:

The principal verb for lighting up something is _sytyttää_ (conj. _sytytän, sytytin, olen sytyttänyt_), sometimes with an added _tuli jhk/liekki jhk_ (fire/flame into sth) or the adverbs _palamaan_ ([in order] to burn) or _tuleen_ (in fire).

_sytyttää tuli kynttilään, takkaan, nuotioon, saunaan_ - light up a candle, a fireplace, a campfire, the sauna oven
_sytyttää kynttilä, takka, nuotio, tulipalo_ - light up a candle, a fireplace, a campfire, a conflagration
_sytyttää valo _- put an electric light on
_sytyttää itsensä, valokuva palamaan _- to light up oneself, a photo, a candle
_sytyttää itsensä, talonsa tuleen_ - to light up oneself, one's house

Two special sayings:
_tehdä tuli _(lit. make a fire) means 'to settle down and light up a campfire'.
_Hänellä sytyttää hitaasti _means 'She's slow, she's slow on uptake'.

The opposite is _sammuttaa_ (extinguish, conj. _sammutan, sammutin, olen sammuttanut_). 

_sammuttaa liekki, tulipalo, jano, kiinnostus _- extinguisha flame, a conflagration, the thirst, the interest/curiosity


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## DearPrudence

French is very boring:

make a fire:
*faire / allumer un feu* (literally: make / turn on a fire)

put out a fire:
*éteindre un feu *(literally: turn off a fire)


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## ThomasK

Thanks, both of you! 

I wondered about the etymology. As for French:
- allumer will certainly refer to lumen, light
- éteindre, Lat. exstinguere : I found that "le primitif perdu *_stinguo_ voulait dire « piquer ». C'est le verbe correspondant au grec στίζω, _stidzô_ (pour *_stigtô_)", and that seems to refer to our stoken, but in the negative form due to the ex-prefix

However, no clue as for Finnish! ;-)


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## sakvaka

I had to consult my etymological dictionary (Häkkinen 2004), and this was the result:

_Syttyä_ (light up, note: intransitive!) has been derived from _syteä_ (NB this word is no longer in use) which means _hitting [stones together] with force_, as the fire used to be lit in the olden days. The origin could be Iranian (Ossetic _sūzyn_ burn, light up) or then it could be a native creation.
_Sammua_ (extinguish, note: intransitive!) has an unclear origin.

No clue, I'm afraid!


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## ThomasK

Sammua: maybe it is just a basic verb. I was surprised to find that our _blussen _was more 'basic' than I had thought as well...


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## Fericire

In Portuguese we usually say:
_To make *a* fire_: «Acender uma fogueira» or «Fazer uma fogueira» if _to make a wooden fire_. Else: «Criar um incêndio» (_to create a fire_)
_To make fire: _«Acender fogo» or «Fazer fogo»

«Acender» is the verb _to light_ and «Fazer» is the verb _to make_. Both on the infinitive.

_To extinguish *a* fire_: «Apagar uma fogueira» if _to extinguish a wooden fire_. Else it is: «Apagar um incêndio»
_To extinguish fire_: «Apagar fogo»

«Apagar» is the verb meaning mainly _to extinguish_ and _to erase_.
In metaphors, people use more the verb "Fazer" (_to do_ or _to make_).


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## ThomasK

Could you give examples of _apagar _as a metaphor? What words [direct objects] can you combine it with ?


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## catlady60

Also, in English:
*Build *a fire (for cooking or warmth), *start *a fire (e.g., a house fire)
*Put out* a fire, *extinguish *a fire.


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## francisgranada

Hungarian:

_(meg)*gyújtani *_a tüzet - to light/make the fire
_(el)*oltani *_a tüzet - to extinguish the fire

_(le)*halkítani *_a lángot - litterally: to make "less audible" the flame; it doesn't meen to extinguish but to make "weaker"

meg - general preffix that makes perfictive the verb
le - preffix, "down" 
el - ppreffix, "away"
a - the
tüzet  - fire (in accusative)
lángot - flame (in accusative)



*****************************
_gyújtani - _also a cigarette, light, lamp, ...
_oltani - _also the thirst,...


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## apmoy70

francisgranada said:


> Hungarian:
> 
> *****************************
> _gyújtani - _also a cigarette, light, lamp, ...
> _oltani - _also the thirst,...


We too use «σβήνω» with thirst; «σβήνω τη δίψα μου» ('zvino ti 'ðipsa mu)--> _to quench (satisfy) my thirst_


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## ThomasK

I am quite surprised to hear about this link with hearing. I don't know why...


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## francisgranada

ThomasK said:


> I am quite surprised to hear about this link with hearing. I don't know why...


Perhaps because the "natural" fire when the wood burns, is really "audible" ...


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## إسكندراني

Arabic
Formal: أشعل ناراً he IGNITED a fire. استوقد ناراً lit.: he FUELLED a fire. أفشى نيران he SPREAD fire (plural).
Dialects: شعلل، ولّع، تشّ and many others


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## ThomasK

The first two are quite clear to me, but what does spreading refer to ??? Starting the fire or extinguishing it? BTW: could you transliterate the Arabic words ?


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## Fericire

ThomasK said:


> Could you give examples of _apagar _as a metaphor? What words [direct objects] can you combine it with ?



Well, maybe: "O homem foi apagado!" (The man was erased/extinguished) — combining "apagado" with "man".
This phrase is usually said in "mafia" movies, like:
"O que tu fizes'e com o homem?" (What did you do to the man?)
"Digamos que o homem foi apagado..." (Let's say he just got "erased/extinguished" [killed]).


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## ThomasK

I have been exploring meanings of 'extinguish' in English, but eliminating a person seems no part of them: (2) destroy all traces, (3) bring to an end forcibly [but not a person], (4) id. but formally. What you describe here, would be eliminating in English, I guess, but I could not find any referring to fire (except _wipe from the face of the earth - _but that has nothing to do with fire, I think)


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## إسكندراني

ThomasK said:


> The first two are quite clear to me, but what does spreading refer to ??? Starting the fire or extinguishing it? BTW: could you transliterate the Arabic words ?


All these are starting a fire. These are what came into my head, there would be many others.
Arabic
Formal:
 أشعل ناراً lit: he IGNITED a fire , 2ash3ala naara.
 استوقد ناراً lit.: he FUELLED a fire , 2istawQada naara. (or 2awqada or Qaada)
 أفشى نيران he SPREAD fire , 2afshaa niiraan
Dialects:
 شعلل، sha3lal
 ولّع، walla3
 تشّ tashsh
 and variations of Formal Arabic
and many others


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## ThomasK

Thanks - and really: so many more ?


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