Bonfire

Ignis ossium. The Athenœum shows that the word means a fire made of bones; one quotation runs thus, “In the worship of St. John, the people … made three manner of fires: one was of clean bones and no wood, and that is called a bonefire; another of clean wood and no bones, and that is called a wood-fire … and the third is made of wood and bones, and is called ‘St. John’s fireʹ” (Quatuor Sermones, 1499). Certainly bone (Scotch, bane) is the more ancient way of spelling the first syllable of the word; but some suggest that “bon-fire” is really “boon-fire.”