Etymology Dictionary

IGNITION,  a setting on fire.  (F.,—L.)   'Not a total ignition;' Sir T. Browne, Works, b. ii. c. 2. § 6.—F. ignition, 'a burning, firing;' Cot.   Coined (as if from Lat. ignitio*, a burning) from Lat. ignitus, pp. of ignire, to set on fire.—Lat. ignis, fire. + Skt. agni, fire.   β. 'It is not improbable that Skt. agni-s = Lat. igni-s, Lith. ugnì-s, is derived from the root AG (Skt. aj) to move;' Curtius, i. 134.   For this root, see Agile.   Der. Hence ignite, a later word, though perhaps formed directly from Lat. pp. ignitus; ignit-ible.   Also igneous, Englished from Lat. igneus, fiery, by the common change from Lat. -us to E. -ous.   Also, directly from the Latin, ignis fatuus, lit. 'foolish fire,' hence, a misleading meteor; see Fatuous.   'Fuller (Comment. on Ruth, p. 38) would scarcely have spoken of "a meteor of foolish fire," if ignis fatuus, which has now quite put out "firedrake," the older name for these meteors, had not been, when he wrote, still strange to the language, or quite recent to it;' Trench, Eng. Past and Present, lect. iv.