Editing Resin (section)

==History and etymology==
[[File:Resin on Almond tree.jpg|thumb|right|The material dripping from an almond tree looks confusingly like resin, but actually is a [[Natural gum|gum]] or [[mucilage]], and chemically very different.]]
Human use of plant resins has a long history that was documented in [[ancient Greece]] by [[Theophrastus]], in ancient Rome by [[Pliny the Elder]], and especially in the resins known as [[frankincense]] and [[myrrh]], prized in [[ancient Egypt]].<ref name="ancegy">{{cite web|url=http://ocean.tamu.edu/Quarterdeck/QD3.1/Elsayed/elsayedhatshepsut.html|title=Queen Hatshepsut's expedition to the Land of Punt: The first oceanographic cruise?|publisher=Dept. of Oceanography, Texas A&M University|access-date=2010-05-08|archive-date=2014-08-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140814154851/http://ocean.tamu.edu/Quarterdeck/QD3.1/Elsayed/elsayedhatshepsut.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> These were highly prized substances, and required as [[incense]] in some religious rites.

The word ''resin'' comes from French ''resine'', from Latin ''resina'' "resin", which either derives from or is a [[cognate]] of the Greek {{lang|grc|ῥητίνη}} ''rhētínē'' "resin of the pine", of unknown earlier origin, though probably non-[[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]].<ref>{{cite web|title=resin, n. and adj.|url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/163629|website=OED Online|publisher=Oxford University Press|access-date=2 December 2014|date=September 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=resin (n.)|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=resin|website=Online Etymology Dictionary|access-date=2 December 2014}}</ref>

The word "resin" has been applied in the modern world to nearly any component of a liquid that will set into a hard [[lacquer]] or [[Vitreous enamel|enamel]]-like finish. An example is nail polish. Certain "casting resins" and [[synthetic resin]]s (such as [[epoxy resin]]) have also been given the name "resin".

Some naturally-derived resins, when soft, are known as 'oleoresins', and when containing [[benzoic acid]] or [[cinnamic acid]] they are called balsams. Oleoresins are naturally-occurring mixtures of an oil and a resin; they can be extracted from various plants. Other resinous products in their natural condition are a mix with [[natural gum|gum]] or mucilaginous substances and known as [[gum resin]]s.  Several natural resins are used as ingredients in perfumes, e.g., balsams of Peru and tolu, elemi, styrax, and certain turpentines.<ref name=Ullmann/>

===Non-resinous exudates===
Other liquid compounds found inside plants or exuded by plants, such as [[Plant sap|sap]], [[latex]], or [[mucilage]], are sometimes confused with resin but are not the same. Saps, in particular, serve a nutritive function that resins do not.

[[File:Résine.jpg|thumb|Resin of  pine]]