Editing Bitumen (section)

=== 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.