Etymologically
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ἄσφαλτος

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /ás.pʰal.tos/[1]
  • IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈas.ɸal.tos/[1]
  • IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈas.fal.tos/[1]

Forms

ἄσφᾰλτος (ásphaltos) f or m (genitive ἀσφᾰ́λτου); second declension[1] Also neuter ἄσφαλτον (Hippocrates); rarely masculine; late spelling ἄσπαλτος (Diocletian's Price Edict).[2][3][4]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed.[2][3] The usual explanation takes it as a negated verbal adjective, from Ancient Greek ἀ- (a-) + σφάλλω (sphállō, “to make fall”), “not letting fall”, on the assumption that it was named as the binding material that keeps walls from being thrown down; ἀμέθυστος (améthustos) is compared for the active sense.[5][3][6] Philo already derived it from σφάλλω.[7]

Beekes finds the meaning too weak for that etymology and considers it rather a substrate word, perhaps Pre-Greek, noting with Diels that bitumen springs are found all over the Greek world, as on Zakynthos and near Dyrrhachium.[2][1] Rosół proposes a Semitic loan, from a word like Akkadian ziptu (“pitch”) or Hebrew זֶפֶת (zép̄eṯ, “pitch”) with metathesis of the first sounds.[8] Diels and Πάπυρος reject Semitic etymologies.[8][5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first known use is in Alcaeus.[9][4][3] Herodotus then describes bitumen used as mortar in building walls.[9][4][3]

Semantic evolution

Herodotus and Xenophon describe bitumen laid as mortar between bricks, and Herodotus and later Diodorus describe the places where it was found.[3][4] The Hippocratic writers used it in plasters and fumigations, Nicander in antidotes against snakebite, and Galen in a depilatory.[3] Dioscorides says it was produced in Phoenicia, at Sidon, in Babylon and on Zakynthos, and calls a liquid kind a sort of petroleum.[8][7] Galen says it may be called feminine or masculine, as one likes.[4]

In the Septuagint it is the pitch with which the ark is to be coated in Genesis.[7][3][4] Late Latin borrowed it as asphaltum, the source of English asphalt (early 14th century), which came to mean a paving material in 1847.[1][10] Medieval Greek kept it for a kind of pitch, and Modern Greek άσφαλτος (ásfaltos) took the sense “road surface, paved road” from French asphalte.[11][12]

Timeline

  • 7th–6th century BC – Alcaeus mentions it.[9][3]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus describes bitumen used as mortar.[3][4]
  • 5th century BC – the Hippocratic writers use it in medicine.[3]
  • 1st century AD – Dioscorides lists where it is found and describes a liquid petroleum.[8][7]
  • Early 14th century – English asphalt, through Late Latin.[10]
  • Modern Greek – άσφαλτος “asphalt; paved road”.[12]

Meanings

Noun

  1. bitumen, asphalt.[7][9]
  2. A kind of petroleum.[7]
  3. (Septuagint) pitch.[7][3]

Word family

  • ἀσφαλτόω (asphaltóō)
  • ἀσφαλτώδης (asphaltṓdēs)
  • ἀσφάλτιον (aspháltion)

Usage notes

Medieval Greek also had an unrelated adjective άσφαλτος “unerring, sure”, formed from σφάλλω “to trip, err”.[11][12]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Rosół, Rafał, ed., Lexicon of Oriental Words in Ancient Greek, https://orientalwordsingreek.org
  5. ^ a b Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  6. ^ a b Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c d Rosół, Rafał (2013), Frühe semitische Lehnwörter im Griechischen, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang
  9. ^ a b c d Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  11. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
  12. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki