bitume

Forms

bitume m (plural bitumes)^[1] Old French betumoi (about 1160) and betume (1190).^[2][3] Middle French bitumme and bithume (15th century).^[3] Anglo-Norman betum, also bitume, buteme and butime.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin bitūmen (“bitumen, a liquid combustible substance”).^{[2][3][5][6][1]} The first French form, betumoi, added the Old French suffix -oi, which marked an expanse; it was followed by betume, and the modern form was reshaped after the Latin word, which was itself used in 16th-century French.^[2][5][7]

The origin of the Latin word is uncertain.^[2] Rey finds several arguments for a borrowing from Gaulish, connected with the word latinized as Latin betulla (“birch”) (the source of bouleau): in Gaul bitumen was obtained from the birch, Celtic personal names such as Bitumos and Bituno look related, and the Gaulish plant name titumen (“mugwort”) is formally close.^[2] The Latin word also gave béton, a doublet.^[2][1]

Cognate with Occitan betum, Spanish betún, Portuguese betume and Italian bitume.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded about 1160 as betumoi, naming the mineral pitch.^[2][8] In Anglo-Norman, betum meant “pitch, bitumen” about 1230.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word has always named a natural mixture of hydrocarbons, solid or liquid, brown to black.^[2][8] In the 16th century writers still used the Latin form bitumen: Palissy describes it as a kind of pitch used to grease ships.^[7]

Because bitumen was laid as the surface of roads and pavements, the word came by metonymy to mean the ground of the street itself, and especially the pavement as a place where prostitutes solicit (1841).^[2][8] In familiar French arpenter le bitume is to pace the pavement.^[8][9] Painters also used bitume for a shiny brown colour, much used in the 19th century.^[9][10]

Timeline

• c. 1160 – First recorded as betumoi.^[2][8]
• 1190 – The form betume appears.^[2][3]
• c. 1230 – Anglo-Norman betum “pitch, bitumen”.^[4]
• 15th century – Spelled bitumme and bithume.^[3]
• 1549 – Bitume in Tagault.^[9][5][8]
• 1575 – The date the Grand Robert and Rey give for the modern form.^[3][2]
• 1803 – The verb bitumer is recorded.^[5]
• 1841 – Used for the pavement, especially as a place of soliciting.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. bitumen: a natural or artificial mixture of hydrocarbons, solid or liquid and brown to black.^[8][10]
2. This substance used as a waterproof surface for roads and pavements, asphalt: une route couverte de bitume.^[8][9]
3. (familiar) The pavement or the street itself: arpenter le bitume.^[8][9][10]
4. (painting) A shiny brown colour.^[9][10]

Word family

• bitumer
• bitumé
• bitumeux

Related words

• bitumineux
• béton
• Latin bitūmen

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
5. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 1, 386b
7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
10. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)