gas Italian · revision 39083

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1683, Lionardo da Capua|origins=grc χάος}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈɡas/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''gas''' ''m'' (uncountable)^(Wiktionary)

+ Older Italian forms are [[gaz]], the Tuscan [[gasse]] (still in Zingarelli in 1970) and [[gasso]] (1793).^(DELI 1999)^(DEI|1768)^(LEI|13, 1296)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la-new|gas]], a word coined by the Flemish physician and chemist Jan Baptist van Helmont (1577–1644) for the “subtle spirit” he discovered.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) He made it by slightly altering [[la|chaos]], [[grc|χάος|tr=kháos|t=void, formless matter]], saying that he named the vapour so because it was not far from the chaos of the ancients.^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI)^(Nocentini 2010) The treatise in which he used it was published after his death, in 1648.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003) Paracelsus had already used the Latin word for a vapour produced by cold, so van Helmont linked a likeness of names to a likeness of substances.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003) In Flemish the ⟨g⟩ is a spirant close to the sound of ⟨ch⟩, which made the change small.^(GDLI)

+

+ DEI holds that the word became international through [[fr|gaz]], recorded from 1670.^(DEI|1768)^(GRADIT 2003) An older explanation, which Zaccaria still gives, derived the coinage from [[nl|geest|t=spirit]], like [[de|Geist]]; the GDLI notes that it was given up.^(Zaccaria 1901)^(GDLI)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first Italian record is in the physician Lionardo da Capua in 1683, for matter that tends to fill all the space available to it.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)^(LEI|13, 1296)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The sense “a volatile substance given off by fermentation or decay” is in Targioni Tozzetti in 1773, and DEI cites Volta in the 18th century.^(LEI|13, 1296)^(DEI|1768) The GDLI notes that French ''gaz'' took its modern sense in the later 18th century through the work of Priestley.^(GDLI) With street lighting the word entered everyday speech: Tommaseo in 1840 wrote of ''lampioni a gasse'', and private gas lighting began in Rome in 1843.^(DELI 1999)^(Prati 1951) DELI quotes the observation that between 1861 and 1881 the word spread to every city.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ The First World War brought the ''gas asfissiante'', a translation of French ''gaz asphyxiant''.^(DELI 1999)^(DEI|1768) Later derivatives include [[gasolina]] (1892), from English ''gasoline'', [[gasolio]] (1942), from English ''gasoil'', and [[gasdotto]] “gas pipeline” (1940).^(Nocentini 2010) In the kitchen ''il gas'' is both the fuel and the stove, and ''dare gas'' means to step on the accelerator.^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1648 – Van Helmont's ''Ortus Medicinae'' introduces New Latin ''gas''.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * 1670 – French ''gas'', ''gaz'' is recorded.^(DEI|1768)^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * 1683 – Lionardo da Capua uses ''gas'' in Italian.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * 1793 – The Tuscan adaptation ''gasso'' is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1840 – Tommaseo writes ''lampioni a gasse'', gas lamps.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1843 – Private gas lighting begins in Rome.^(Prati 1951)

+ * 1915 – ''Gas asfissiante'', poison gas, is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|gas]]: matter in the state in which it has no shape or volume of its own and expands to fill the space available: ''L'ossigeno è un gas.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(physics)'' A substance above its critical temperature, which cannot be liquefied by pressure alone.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # Fuel gas supplied for domestic or industrial use; the supply itself: ''Ricordati di chiudere il gas.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Poison gas: ''un attacco con il gas''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(by extension)'' A gas [[m|en|stove]], the cooker: ''Ho lasciato la pentola sul gas.''^(GRADIT 2003)

+ # ''(motoring)'' The fuel mixture fed to an engine, ''dare gas'', to accelerate, ''a tutto gas'', at full throttle.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[gassoso]]

+ * [[gassosa]]

+ * [[gasare]]

+ * [[gassare]]

+ * [[gasdotto]]

+ * [[gasolio]]

+ * [[gasolina]]

+ * [[gassificare]]

+ * [[gasometro]]

+ * [[gasista]]

+ * [[gasogeno]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[caos]]

+ * [[la|chaos]]

+ * [[fr|gaz]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Gas'' is invariable: ''i gas''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) Set phrases include ''camera a gas'' “gas chamber”, ''gas di scarico'' “exhaust gas” and ''gas serra'' “greenhouse gas”, which the GDLI's supplement records.^(GRADIT 2003)^(GDLI)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}