petrol

Forms

petrol n (plural petroluri)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French pétrole.^[2][3][4][1] Tiktin adds German Petroleum, and MDA2 names German and Hungarian petróleum beside French;^[5][6] the DLR takes from German and Hungarian only the variant petraliom.^[4] Variants such as petroloi and petriloi were reshaped after oloi “oil”.^[4]

The French word is borrowed from Medieval Latin petroleum (“mineral oil”), literally “rock oil”, a compound of petra (“rock”) and oleum (“oil”).^[7][1][8] The Latin word for rock is also the source of Romanian piatră.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's earliest record is of 1703; he also cites the older forms petroleu and petroleiu from Șincai.^[5] MDA2's first record is Stamati's dictionary of technical words of 1851, and the DLR also cites it there for the sense “crude oil”.^[6][4]

Semantic evolution

The word first named the mineral oil itself.^[4][6] It also names the refined product burnt in them, petrol lampant, which everyday speech calls gaz.^[2][6] Dictionaries give țiței as a synonym of the first sense.^[2] The colour name bleu petrol “petrol blue” names a greyish-green blue.^[3]

In the dialects the word took many forms, among them petrolei, petroleu, petrilion, petrior and pitriol.^[6]

Timeline

• 1703 – Tiktin's earliest record.^[5]
• 1851 – in Stamati's dictionary of technical words.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. petroleum, crude oil: a dark, oily liquid rock made of hydrocarbons, extracted from the ground as a fuel and a raw material for the chemical industry; țiței;^[2][6] petrol sintetic “synthetic oil”, made from coal.^[2][6]
2. kerosene, a liquid distilled from crude oil and burnt in wick lamps;^[2][6] petrol lampant “lamp oil”; gaz.^[2][6]
3. A grade or kind of petroleum (with the plural petroluri).^[2]

Related words

• țiței
• piatră
• French pétrole

Usage notes

The plural petroluri is used only for kinds of petroleum.^[2] Bleu petrol does not change for gender or number.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 811
3. ^ a b c Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. petrol
4. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. petrol
5. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. petrol
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 363
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Graur, Alexandru (1980), Cuvinte înrudite, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică