gas

Forms

gas n (plural gassen, diminutive gasje n)^[1]

Etymology

It is a scientific coinage of the Flemish physician and chemist Jan Baptist van Helmont, used in his Ortus Medicinae, which appeared after his death in 1648.^[2][3][1] Van Helmont said himself that he had the old word chaos in mind: the word is from Ancient Greek χάος (kháos, “empty space, chaos”), adapted to Dutch sounds as ⟨chaos⟩, ⟨chas⟩, ⟨gas⟩.^[4][2][5][6] Paracelsus, whom he admired, had already used the Greek word for vapour or air.^[2][5]

Before Van Helmont's own statement was pointed out by De Vries in 1859, German and French scholars derived the word from geest (“spirit”) or from gisten (“to ferment”); the Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal rejects these.^[4][2] He also coined ⟨blas⟩, from blazen (“to blow”), which did not survive.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Van Helmont introduced the word for the gases that differ from ordinary air, such as those rising from mines or marshes, which had been called stoom “steam”: Hunc spiritum, incognitum hactenus, novo nomine Gas voco “this spirit, unknown until now, I call by a new name, gas”.^[4][2][7] For him gas was also a philosophical element present in everything, the human body included.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In most languages gas stayed a scientific word until the end of the 18th century, when gas lighting and the first balloon flights brought it into everyday use.^[2] The general sense of a substance in the state of a gas is quoted in Dutch from 1768, of the gas given off by fermenting beer.^[4] By the mid-19th century gas was above all lighting gas made from coal, and by ellipsis also gaslight or a gas lamp: een tijd van stoom en stank, een tijd van gas en gloed “a time of steam and stench, a time of gas and glow” (1841).^[4] Today it is mostly natural gas for heating and cooking, and the fuel mixture of an engine: gas geven is to accelerate, and gas terugnemen both to slow down and to take things more easily, a figurative use listed among the new words of 1984.^[8][9][10]

The word went from Dutch into the other languages: English gas (gass 1658), German Gas (1796), French gaz, Italian and Spanish gas, Danish gas, Polish gaz and Russian.^{[11][2][4][1]} The Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal rejected the spelling gaz in Dutch as a French device.^[4] In Surinamese Dutch gas also means petrol.^[12]

Timeline

• 1648 – Gas appears in Van Helmont's Ortus Medicinae.^[2][3]
• 1658 – English gass is first recorded.^[2]
• 1768 – The general sense is quoted in Dutch, of the gas from fermenting beer.^[4]
• 1796 – German Gas is recorded for the gas of lighting and ballooning.^[2]
• 1841 – A Dutch poet calls the age a time of steam and gas.^[4]
• 1859 – De Vries points out Van Helmont's own explanation of the word.^[4][2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A gas: matter in the state that has no shape or volume of its own.^[8][9][1]
2. Gas as a fuel for heating, lighting or engines, now mostly natural gas; also liquefied petroleum gas.^[8][9][1]
3. The fuel mixture driving a combustion engine, and so the accelerator: Ze gaf gas op de snelweg.^[8][9]

Word family

• aardgas
• biogas
• broeikasgas
• edelgas
• gasaanval
• gasachtig
• gasfles
• gaskamer
• gaslicht
• gasvormig
• vergassen

Related words

• chaos
• gazeus
• English gas

Usage notes

Dutch once had a separate feminine noun gas “street, lane”.^[4] Middle Dutch gasse is recorded from 1301, but it was taken from German Gasse; the native forms were gatte and gate, which match Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍄𐍅𐍉 (gatwō).^[13][4] The Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal quotes wat grimmelden de gassen! “how the streets swarmed!” from 1623 and calls the word obsolete except in dialect, especially in Gelderland.^[4] In Amsterdam Jewish usage gas “street”, from Yiddish, named several streets, such as the Braategas for the Jodenbreestraat.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Philippa, Marlies; Debrabandere, Frans; Quak, Arend; Schoonheim, Tanneke; Sijs, Nicoline van der (2003–2009), Etymologisch woordenboek van het Nederlands, 4 vols., Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press; online via etymologiebank.nl
3. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Vries, Matthias de; Winkel, L. A. te, et al. (1882–1998), Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal, 29 vols., 's-Gravenhage / Leiden: Nijhoff / Sijthoff / SDU; supplement 2001; gtb.ivdnt.org
5. ^ a b Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
6. ^ Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
7. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
9. ^ a b c d Algemeen Nederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; anw.ivdnt.org
10. ^ Reinsma, R. (1984), Neologismen, Utrecht: Spectrum
11. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
12. ^ Donselaar, J. van (1989), Woordenboek van het Surinaams-Nederlands, Muiderberg: Coutinho
13. ^ Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
14. ^ Kamp, Jacob van de; Wijk, Jacob van der (2006), Koosjer Nederlands: Joodse woorden in de Nederlandse taal, Amsterdam: Contact