bitumen

Forms

bitūmen n (genitive bitūminis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷet-u- (“pitch, resin”).^[2][1] De Vaan explains it from a form ⟨*betu-⟩ that Latin must have borrowed either from Sabellic, where /gʷ/ became /b/, or from Celtic, as betulla (“birch”) was;^[2][1][3] Wiktionary and Etymonline favour an Osco-Umbrian source.^[2][1][3] The ⟨i⟩ may come from the lending language or reflect the change of /e/ to /i/ after a labial.^[2] Cognate with Sanskrit जतु (játu, “lac, gum”), Old English cwidu (“mastic”), Old High German cuti (“glue”), Old Norse kváða (“resin”) and Welsh bedw (“birches”).^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Cato,^[2][5] who has a mixture of bitumen and sulphur.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It is a general name for mineral pitch, asphalt and related substances;^[4] bitūmen liquidum is petroleum.^[4] Lucretius says sulphur forms in the earth and bitumen thickens with a foul smell, and Virgil has black bitumen.^[6] Pliny the Elder, Tacitus and Justin describe the bitumen of Judaea and Babylon.^[7] It was used in magic: Virgil has laurels burned with bitumen, and Horace wishes that someone may burn with love as bitumen burns with black flames.^[6][7] The Vulgate uses it too, and Stelten gives "pitch, slime, cement" for Church Latin.^[7][8] The grammarians insist on the spelling with ⟨b⟩, and the Appendix Probi has bitūmen nōn butūmen.^[6] English borrowed it in the mid-15th century as bitumen.^[3]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato of a mixture with bitumen.^[6][2][5]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of bitumen forming in the earth.^[6]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of bitumen in magic.^[6][7]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of the bitumen of Judaea.^[7]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate of pitch.^[7]
• mid-15th century – Borrowed into English as bitumen.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Mineral pitch, asphalt, bitumen;^[4][7][1][8] bitūmen liquidum, petroleum.^[4][7][1][8]

Word family

• bitūmineus
• bitūminō
• bitūminōsus

Related words

• betulla
• English bitumen

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson