Candles Part 2 - Philology

If asked to "snuff the candle", would you trim the wick or extinguish the light? As noted previously, a substantial number of the candles made and consumed in the United States in 1860 had wicks that needed to be trimmed frequently in order to keep the light from dimming.

According to an 1860 American dictionary, "snuff" as a noun referred to (1) the burnt wick of a candle (that is, the partially consumed portion that needed to be trimmed) and (2) pulverized tobacco. As a verb it meant (1) to inhale, (2) to smell, (3) to scent and (4) "to crop the snuff, as of a candle". The same dictionary defined the verb "crop" to mean (1) to cut off, (2) to mow and (3) to reap. The various definitions suggest that in the usage of the time was to trim its wick for the purpose of improving the quality of the light, although if the definitions are stretched, they might include the concept of extinguishing the flame.

Several examples from English literature from prior centuries suggest to varying degrees that the usage was evolving in this direction. One such is found in the play The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eighth (1613) a collaboration between William Shakespeare and John Fletcher:

This candle burns not clear: 'tis I must snuff it; Then out it goes.

Another is in Jonathan Swift’s Directions to Servants (1745):

There are several Ways of putting out Candles, and you ought to be instructed in them all: you may run the Candle End against the Wainscot, which puts the Snuff out immediately: You may lay it on the Floor, and tread the Snuff out with your Foot: You may hold it upside down until it is choked with its own Grease; or cram it into the Socket of the Candlestick: You may whirl it round in your Hand till it goes out: When you go to Bed, after you have made Water, you may dip the Candle End into the Chamber Pot: You may spit on your Finger and Thumb, and pinch the Snuff until it goes out: The Cook may run the Candle's Nose into the Meal Tub or the Groom into a Vessel of Oats, or a Lock of Hay, or a Heap of Litter: The House-maid may put out her Candle by running it against a Looking-glass, which nothing cleans so well as Candle Snuff: But the quickest and best of all Methods, is to blow it out with your Breath, which leaves the Candle clear and readier to be lighted.

The least equivocal is in Daniel Dafoe’s The Political History of the Devil (1726):

The Fellow going to snuff one of the Candles, snuffs it out, at which his Master being in a Passion the Fellow lights it again immediately at the other Candle, and then being in a little hurry, going to snuff the other Candle snuffed that out too.

By the late twentieth century the definitions of "snuff" as a verb had expanded to include "extinguish" and "put an end to". Moreover, although the range of candles available today varies widely as to size, shape and scent, I cannot recall a single occasion on which I was aware of seeing a burning candle with a wick that needed to be trimmed. Nor can I recall hearing the word “snuff” used as a noun to refer to any part of a candle’s wick, which is not surprising because I have never seen a snuff.

Modern usage has evolved to take an archaic word, referring to an archaic practice related to candles, and extend its meaning to describe an activity to remains universal as to candles -- the need to put them out.