[Lexicog] Forest fires and wood fires

[Ron Moe]

On 05/02/2004 17:38, Ron Moe wrote:

> ...
>
> 8. Fires produce resulting states that all cultures have learned to
> exploit. So we can talk about their purpose: arson (criminal intent),
> cook fire (cook), bonfire (burn rubbish)

On 06/02/2004 Peter Kirk wrote:

> Is it actually true of ALL cultures that they use fire for all of these
> purposes? Is cooking universal? Is burning of rubbish - hardly a
> necessity in some environments? Plus, cross-culturally, we find some
> surprises e.g. Australian Aborigines deliberately setting forest fires
> to clear the undergrowth and improve hunting conditions. So we have to
> be careful about assuming universals.

No. The English examples are merely illustrative of the fact that fires have
useful purposes and those purposes can be incorporated into the meaning of a
word. Each culture develops uses for fire. Slash and burn agriculture is one
such use. American Indians, like Australian Aborigines, deliberately set
grass fires to improve grazing or to drive animals in a hunt. The US forest
service deliberately sets fires, or lets forest fires burn to "improve the
health of the forest" and to limit the danger of forest fires getting out of
control. But 'forest fire' in English normally refers to an accidental or
arson set fire. A deliberately (and legally) set fire is a 'controlled
burn'. The point is that we have a universal (fires have useful purposes)
and culturally determined specifications (Aborigines use fire for the
purpose of clearing undergrowth). David Nash directed me to an article and
web site that gives the following Warlpiri words in the domain 'Fire':

yurduyurdu-ma-ni 'to cook on all sides by turning over' [purpose: cook]
yardu-yi-nyi 'to get warm by the fire' [purpose: warm yourself]
warlukarra-warlukarra 'by the light of the fire' [purpose: give light]
warlamarra 'technique of finding murderer by fire' [purpose: investigate a
murder]
wini 'burnt-off spinifex [grass]' [purpose: burn grass]

The purposes are not universal.

Ron Moe
SIL, Uganda



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