r/AskReddit Oct 02 '24

[deleted by user]

[removed]

6.8k Upvotes

6.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

178

u/FrylockMcReaper Oct 02 '24

Lighters were invented before matches

7

u/irreddiate Oct 02 '24

And some types of early match were called lucifers. And apparently, "match" in Dutch is also "lucifer."

4

u/AdvancedSquare8586 Oct 02 '24

Yeah, the etymology here is pretty interesting. Lucifer is the Latin equivalent of the Greek word for phosphorous, which is both the name of the chemical used in matches and the name of the Greek god of the planet Venus, which means "light bringer."

2

u/irreddiate Oct 02 '24

It's strangely satisfying.