Editing Bitumen (section)

== Terminology ==
=== Etymology ===
The Latin word traces to the [[Proto-Indo-European]] root ''[[wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/gʷet-|*gʷet-]]'' "pitch".

The word "asphalt" is derived from the late [[Middle English]], in turn from French ''asphalte'', based on [[Late Latin]] ''asphaltum'', which is the [[Latinisation (literature)|latinisation]] of the [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] {{lang|grc|ἄσφαλτος}} (''ásphaltos''), a word meaning "asphalt/bitumen/[[Pitch (resin)|pitch]]",<ref>{{LSJ|a)/sfaltos|ἄσφαλτος|ref}}.</ref> which perhaps derives from {{lang|grc|ἀ-}}, "not, without", i.e. the [[alpha privative]], and {{lang|grc|σφάλλειν}} (''sphallein''), "to cause to fall, baffle, (in passive) err, (in passive) be balked of".<ref>{{LSJ|sfa/llw|σφάλλειν|shortref}}.</ref>

The first use of asphalt by the ancients was as a cement to secure or join various objects, and it thus seems likely that the name itself was expressive of this application. Specifically, [[Herodotus]] mentioned that bitumen was brought to Babylon to build its gigantic fortification wall.<ref>Herodotus, ''The Histories'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+1.179.4&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126 1.179.4], on Perseus.</ref>

From the Greek, the word passed into late Latin, and thence into French (''asphalte'') and English ("asphaltum" and "asphalt"). In French, the term ''asphalte'' is used for naturally occurring asphalt-soaked limestone deposits, and for specialised manufactured products with fewer voids or greater bitumen content than the "asphaltic concrete" used to pave roads.

=== Modern terminology ===
Bitumen mixed with clay was usually called "asphaltum", but the term is less commonly used today.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_PzwX-xbaUGIC|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_PzwX-xbaUGIC/page/n997 980]|quote=Bitumen mixed with clay was usually called asphaltum.|title=Mines and quarries 1902|last1=census, 1900|first1=United States Census Office 12th|last2=Steuart|first2=William Mott|last3=Census|first3=United States Bureau of the|date=1905|publisher=Govt. Print. Off.|language=en}}</ref>

In [[American English]], "asphalt" is equivalent to the British "bitumen". However, "asphalt" is also commonly used as a shortened form of "[[asphalt concrete]]" (therefore equivalent to the British "asphalt" or "[[Tarmacadam|tarmac]]").

In [[Canadian English]], the word "bitumen" is used to refer to the vast Canadian deposits of extremely heavy [[crude oil]],<ref name="oilsands">{{cite web|url=http://www.energy.gov.ab.ca/OilSands/793.asp|title=What is Oil Sands|year=2007|publisher=Alberta Energy|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160205055523/http://www.qrpoil.com/site/?bitumen|archive-date=5 February 2016}}</ref> while "asphalt" is used for the oil refinery product. Diluted bitumen (diluted with [[naphtha]] to make it flow in pipelines) is known as "[[dilbit]]" in the Canadian petroleum industry, while bitumen "[[Upgrader|upgraded]]" to [[synthetic crude]] oil is known as "syncrude", and syncrude blended with bitumen is called "synbit".<ref name="CAPP">{{cite web|url=http://www.capp.ca/default.asp?V_DOC_ID=1220|title=2007 Canadian Crude Oil Forecast and Market Outlook|date=June 2007|publisher=Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140226022714/http://membernet.capp.ca/default.asp?V_DOC_ID=1220|archive-date=26 February 2014}}</ref>

"Bitumen" is still the preferred geological term for naturally occurring deposits of the solid or semi-solid form of petroleum. "Bituminous rock" is a form of [[sandstone]] impregnated with bitumen. The [[oil sands]] of [[Alberta, Canada]] are a similar material.

Neither of the terms "asphalt" or "bitumen" should be confused with [[tar]] or [[coal tars]]. Tar is the thick liquid product of the dry distillation and [[pyrolysis]] of organic hydrocarbons primarily sourced from vegetation masses, whether fossilized as with coal, or freshly harvested. The majority of bitumen, on the other hand, was formed naturally when vast quantities of organic animal materials were deposited by water and buried hundreds of metres deep at the [[diagenesis|diagenetic]] point, where the disorganized fatty hydrocarbon molecules joined in long chains in the absence of oxygen. Bitumen occurs as a solid or highly viscous liquid. It may even be mixed in with coal deposits. Bitumen, and coal using the [[Bergius process]], can be refined into petrols such as gasoline, and bitumen may be distilled into tar, not the other way around.