Etymograph

English

bitumen

Bitumen comes from Latin bitūmen ‘mineral pitch, bitumen’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *gʷet- ‘resin, gum’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷet-‘resin, gum’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷétreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CE*bitūreconstructed
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEbitūmen‘mineral pitch, bitumen’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bithumen
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1926bitumen

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷet-‘resin, gum’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷétreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CE*bitūreconstructed
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEbitūmen‘mineral pitch, bitumen’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bithumen
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1926bitumen

Earliest quotation: 1926, Rudyard Kipling, The Prophet and the Country: “another star reflected itself in the glassy black of…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *gʷet- ‘resin, gum’

pudding, bowel, quid, bequest, bequeath, cud, botulism, quoth, botulinum, 13 more

Today it means

noun A sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum, burning with a bright flame. It occurs as an abundant natural product in many places, as on the shores of the Dead and Caspian Seas. It is used in cements, in the construction of pavements, etc.; Mineral pitch.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *gʷet- / bitumen

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