[Lexicog] extinguish ~ die

[David Joffe]

Yes, fires can most definitely "die out". And "be dead".

 - David


On 18 Feb 2009 at 12:31, David Tuggy wrote:

To:             	lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com
From:           	David Tuggy <david_tuggy at sil.org>
Subject:        	Re: [Lexicog]  extinguish ~ die

> "fire died out", "flame(s) died out", "fire die(s) out", etc., all return thousands of googlehits, including 
> published sources (e.g.
> 
> [Numbers 11.2]The people therefore cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the LORD and the fire died out. 
> GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995).
> 
> fwiw.
> 
> Incandescent lighting can die out too, and perhaps the loss of light is more in focus than the 
> lessening/cessation of heat. The fire has not died out while coals are still glowing, though it might have gone 
> out.
> 
> For me “go out” is also perfectly normal, and it has a good many more ghits. It more easily refers to a sudden 
> extinguishing of a flame; “die out” requires/expects that the flame cease without clear or immediate external 
> causation, and thus usually will be an observably gradual process.
> 
> --David T
> 
> John Roberts wrote:
>     
>     Wayne,
>     
>     I would say "the fire went out". But I wouldn't say "the fire died out". 
>     People and animals and plants (living things) die out but not fires.
>     
>     John Roberts
>     
>     
>     
>     Wayne Leman wrote:
>       
> 
>     
>     I'm having a senior moment, or maybe it reflects an actual lexical lacuna in 
>     English. Anyway, right now I can't think of an English word for what happens 
>     to a fire if no more fuel is added to it. Of course, we can say that it 
>     "dies." And I am including 'die' and 'go out' glosses in a Russian dialect 
>     dictionary I am working on. But I would also like to include a gloss, if 
>     there is one, which is not semantically extended from its core meaning, as 
>     "die" and 'go out' are in English. I think that "extinguish" is only 
>     transitive. Does it have an intransitive counterpart of any kind, even if it 
>     is a different lexeme?
>     
>     Thanks,
>     Wayne
>     -----
>     Ninilchik Russian
>     http://ninilchik.noadsfree.com
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