Bonfire: from bones to a ‘good fire’

The word bonfire began as banefyre — a fire of bones. Old English bān meant ‘bone’ and fyr meant ‘fire’, and such bone fires were lit for midsummer festivals, purifications, and the clearing of carcasses. Over time, people forgot the bones and heard the word instead through the warmth of French bon, meaning ‘good’. By Shakespeare’s day, a bonfire was already a blaze of celebration rather than a pyre of remains. Samuel Johnson followed the same line, defining it as a ‘good fire’ made for public rejoicing.

Across Europe, the word has taken other forms: French feu de joie, Italian falò, Spanish hoguera, Portuguese fogueira, German Freudenfeuer, and Welsh tân gwyllt — all fires of joy, not of bone. English alone carries that older echo beneath the cheer.