Curfew - Word Corner - Brief Article

New Internationalist, April, 2002 by Susan Watkin

Today a curfew is a regulation forbidding people to be out of doors, especially at night.

Curfew is from the French couvre-feu, meaning literally 'cover-fire'. In medieval towns with wooden building built close together, fire was a great risk. A stray ember could easily set a house on fire. A 'cover-fire' (ashes or a lid) was placed over the embers at night, to stop them spitting. 'Cover-fires' were a legal requirement at night in much of medieval Europe. Candles, another fire risk, also had to be extinguished at night.