5
History and Terminology
Another example of the use of pitch (and slime) is given in the story of Moses (Exodus 2:3):
And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime
and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river’s brink.
Perhaps the slime was a lower melting bitumen (bitumen mixed with solvent), whereas the pitch was
a higher melting material; the one (slime) acting as a flux for the other (pitch). The lack of precise
use of the words for bitumen and asphalt as well as for tar and pitch even now makes it unlikely that
the true nature of the biblical tar, pitch, and slime will ever be known, but one can imagine their
nature! In fact, even modern Latin dictionaries give the word bitumen as the Latin word for asphalt!
TABLE 1.1
Linguistic Origins of Words Related to the Various
Aspects of Petroleum Science and Technology
Language
Word
Possible Meaning
Sumerian
esir
Petroleum
Bitumen
esir-lah
Hard/glossy asphalt
esir-harsag
Rock asphalt
esir-é-a
Mastic asphalt
esir-ud-du-a
Pitch
kupru
Slime, pitch
Sanskrit
jatu
Bitumen
Pitch
śilā-jatu
Rock asphalt
aśmajātam-jatu
Rock asphalt
Assyrian/Akkadian
idd, ittû, it-tû-u
Bitumen
amaru
Bitumen
sippatu
Pitch
Hebrew
zephet
Bitumen
kopher or kofer
Pitch
hêmâr
Pitch
Arabic and Turkish
seyali
Bitumen
zift or zipht
Bitumen or pitch
chemal
Rock asphalt
humar (houmar)
Rock asphalt
gasat (qasat)
Rock asphalt
ghir or gir
Asphalt mastic
kir or kafr
Asphalt mastic or pitch
mûmûia
Bitumen
neftgil
Petroleum wax, mineral wax
Greek
maltha
Soft asphalt
asphaltos
Bitumen
pissasphaltos
Rock asphalt
pittasphaltos
Rock asphalt
pittolium
Rock asphalt
pissa or pitta
Pitch
ampelitis
Mineral wax and asphaltites
Latin
maltha
Soft asphalt
bitumen liquidum
Soft asphalt
pix
Pitch