The word was first recorded in English around 1320, from French. In 1597 the first printed edition of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet used it to describe the ringing of a bell.
French had already used the word by 1285, in a London statute that named the church of St Martin le Grand. It began as an order, with the verb first and the noun after.
The verb meant 'to cover'. It came through Latin from a Proto-Indo-European root, *wer-, which meant the same. That root may also lie behind a Sanskrit word for an enclosure.
KERCHIEF and FOCUS each share one half of this word. KERCHIEF entered English in the early 1200s, from French, naming a cloth worn on the head. FOCUS entered English in the 1640s, from Latin, where it meant a hearth.
By 1569 the chronicler Richard Grafton used it for the bell William the Conqueror was said to have ordered rung in every town. In 1751 Thomas Gray opened his Elegy with it tolling for the end of the day. Today it more commonly describes a time after which people should be home.
Six letters.
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Only got it in 5, sadly...
solved in 4!!! surprised and chuffed!!