Banefire

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A large fire built to burn a dead body as part of a funeral rite ; an open blaze lit outdoors as a signal or celebration
2. An archaic term for a pyre on which the dead are cremated ; a large outdoor fire kindled to send a warning or mark an occasion
3. A funeral fire in which corpses are burned ; a bonfire or beacon lit on high ground to signal across the countryside

Etymology: Banefire is a compound of "bane" and "fire," and its story is mostly about the first part. Old English "bana" meant "slayer" or "killer," and by the Middle Ages "bane" had come to mean "destruction" or "ruin" more broadly, which is why we now say something is the bane of our existence. The word "banefire" was used in Middle English and into early modern times to describe a funeral pyre, the fire on which a body was burned, so the meaning was literal and grim from the start. Over time the word narrowed in a more striking direction. Because "bane" carried the sense of death and destruction, "banefire" came to be used for fires associated with plague and disease, and in some regions, such as parts of Scotland and northern England, for bonfires lit to destroy animals or to purge a place. Its use is largely poetic and archaic today, though it still turns up in fantasy writing and in historical or literary contexts.