Language Matters | How a medieval health and safety initiative gave us the word ‘curfew’
- The term used to denote the ringing of a bell that told townspeople to extinguish the embers in their hearths
In more innocent times, the word “curfew” struck fear in teenagers’ hearts, for the too-early deadline parents set for them to return home at night. In the era of Covid-19 , “curfew” is considered an extreme measure for containing the spread of the virus.
The word’s origins lie in the Old French cuevre-fu/ quevre-feu/ covre feu, from couvre, imperative of couvrir “to cover”, plus feu “fire”. Initially it referred to a regulation in medieval Europe that required, at a fixed hour in the evening, fires to be covered or extinguished, to prevent conflagrations of domestic fires – this was indicated by the ringing of a bell.
The word also referred to the hour of evening when this signal was given, and to the bell rung for the purpose, as seen in 13th century Anglo-Norman. Medieval fireguards – implements of terracotta, ceramic, brass, copper or iron used to cover embers – were also called couvre-feu, or curfews.
The practice of ringing a bell at a fixed evening hour continued, even after its original purpose – the extinguishing of fires for safety – became obsolete. Instead, the bell was used to signal a city’s regulations.
With Anglo-Norman having much influence in England between the late 12th and 15th centuries, as the language of the court, law, official documents and trade, the term entered Middle English. Documents from the 14th and 15th centuries see corfu/curfue (and other spellings) used only for the ringing of the evening bell, the bell itself or the time it marked – demonstrating a transfer of meaning completed.
This definition continued to the 18th and 19th centuries, as in Thomas Gray’s 1751 Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard: “The Curfeu tolls the knell of parting day.”