ἄσφαλτος <Semitic; Archaic?/Classical period>
👉 ἄσφαλτος f. (rarely m.) – ‘bitumen’ (Alc. 124.7 ([ἀ]σ̣φάλτω); Hdt. 1.179, 4.195, 6.119; etc.), ‘pitch’ (LXX: Gen. 6.14), ἄσφαλτος ὑγρά f. ‘a kind of petroleum’ (Dsc. 1.73), also ἄσφαλτον n. ‘bitumen’ (Hp., De aër. 7; Ti. Locr. 99c); cf. a writing with π: gen. sg. ἀσπάλτου (Edict. Diocl. 36.117: 4th c. CE). Concerning the gender, see Gal. 13.784: ἡ ἄσφαλτος ἢ ὁ ἄσφαλτος, ὁποτέρως ἂν ἐθέλῃς καλεῖν, and Gal. 14.84: ἡ ἄσφαλτος, ἢ ὥς τινες ἀρρενικῶς ὁ ἄσφαλτος. Cf. ἀσφαλτόω ‘to smear with pitch’ (LXX: Gen. 6.14), ἀσφαλτόπισσα f. ‘compound of asphalt and pitch’ (LXX: Ex. 2.3), πισσάσφαλτος f. ‘id.’ (Dsc. 1.73).
⚠ Hdt. 1.179 mentions bitumen as a material used for cement in Babylon and reports: ῎Εστι δὲ ἄλλη πόλις ἀπέχουσα ὀκτὼ ἡμερέων ὁδὸν ἀπὸ Βαβυλῶνος· ῍Ις οὔνομα αὐτῇ. ῎Ενθα ἐστὶ ποταμὸς οὐ μέγας· ῍Ις καὶ τῷ ποταμῷ τὸ οὔνομα· ἐσβάλλει δὲ οὗτος ἐς τὸν Εὐφρήτην ποταμὸν τὸ ῥέεθρον. Οὗτος ὦν ὁ ῍Ις ποταμὸς ἅμα τῷ ὕδατι θρόμβους ἀσφάλτου ἀναδιδοῖ πολλούς, ἔνθεν ἡ ἄσφαλτος ἐς τὸ ἐν Βαβυλῶνι τεῖχος ἐκομίσθη. – “There is another city, called Is, eight days’ journey from Babylon, where is a little river, also named Is, a tributary stream of the river Euphrates; from the source of this river Is rise with the water many gouts of bitumen; and from thence the bitumen was brought for the wall of Babylon.” (trans. A.D. Godley); moreover, Hdt. 6.119 describes a special well in Susiana: Καὶ γὰρ ἄσφαλτον καὶ ἅλας καὶ ἔλαιον ἀρύσσονται ἐξ αὐτοῦ τρόπῳ τοιῷδε· ἀντλέεται μὲν κηλωνηίῳ, ἀντὶ δὲ γαυλοῦ ἥμισυ ἀσκοῦ οἱ προσδέδεται· ὑποτύψας δὲ τούτῳ ἀντλέει καὶ ἔπειτα ἐγχέει ἐς δεξαμενήν· ἐκ δὲ ταύτης ἐς ἄλλο διαχεόμενον τρέπεται τριφασίας ὁδούς· καὶ ἡ μὲν ἄσφαλτος καὶ οἱ ἅλες πήγνυνται παραυτίκα, τὸ δὲ ἔλαιον ... οἱ Πέρσαι καλέουσι τοῦτο ῥαδινάκην· ἔστι δὲ μέλαν καὶ ὀδμὴν παρεχόμενον βαρέαν. – “(...) whence men bring up asphalt and salt and oil. This is the manner of their doing it: a windlass is used in the drawing, with half a skin made fast to it in place of a bucket; therewith he that draws dips into the well, and then pours into a tank, whence what is drawn is poured into another tank, and goes three ways; the asphalt and the salt grow forthwith solid; the oil, which the Persians call rhadinake, is dark and evil-smelling.” (trans. A.D. Godley); D.S. 2.12.1-2: Πολλῶν δὲ καὶ παραδόξων ὄντων θεαμάτων κατὰ τὴν Βαβυλωνίαν οὐχ ἥκιστα θαυμάζεται καὶ τὸ πλῆθος τῆς ἐν αὐτῇ γεννωμένης ἀσφάλτου· τοσοῦτον γάρ ἐστιν ὥστε μὴ μόνον ταῖς τοσαύταις καὶ τηλικαύταις οἰκοδομίαις διαρκεῖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ συλλεγόμενον τὸν λαὸν ἐπὶ τὸν τόπον ἀφειδῶς ἀρύεσθαι καὶ ξηραίνοντα κάειν ἀντὶ ξύλων. ἀναριθμήτων δὲ πηγῆς μεγάλης ἀκέραιον διαμένει τὸ πλήρωμα. – “Although the sights to be seen in Babylonia are many and singular, not the least wonderful is the enormous amount of bitumen which the country produces; so great is the supply of this that it not only suffices for their buildings, which are numerous and large, but the common people also, gathering at the place, draw it out without any restriction, and drying it burn it in place of wood. And countless as is the multitude of men who draw it out, the amount remains undiminished, as if derived from some immense source.” (trans. C.H. Oldfather); D.S. 2.48.6-8: (scil. ἔστιν ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ τῶν Ναβαταίων) λίμνη τε μεγάλη φέρουσα πολλὴν ἄσφαλτον, ἐξ ἧς λαμβάνουσιν οὐκ ὀλίγας προσόδους. αὕτη δ' ἔχει τὸ μὲν μῆκος σταδίων ὡς πεντακοσίων, τὸ δὲ πλάτος ὡς ἑξήκοντα, τὸ δ' ὕδωρ δυσῶδες καὶ διάπικρον, ὥστε μὴ δύνασθαι μήτ' ἰχθῦν τρέφειν μήτ' ἄλλο τῶν καθ' ὕδατος εἰωθότων ζῴων εἶναι. (...) ἐξ αὑτῆς δὲ μέσης κατ' ἐνιαυτὸν ἐκφυσᾷ ἀσφάλτου μέγεθος ποτὲ μὲν μεῖζον ἢ τρίπλεθρον, ἔστι δ' ὅτε δυοῖν πλέθρων· (...) ἐπιπλεούσης δὲ τῆς ἀσφάλτου πελαγίας ὁ τύπος φαίνεται τοῖς ἐξ ἀποστήματος θεωροῦσιν οἱονεὶ νῆσος. – “And a large lake is also there (scil. in the land of the Nabataeans) which produces asphalt in abundance, and from it they derive not a little revenue. It has a length of about five hundred stades and a width of about sixty, and its water is so ill-smelling and so very bitter that it cannot support fish or any of the other animals which commonly live in water. (...) and from its centre it spouts forth once a year a great mass of asphalt, which sometimes extends for more than three plethra, and sometimes for only two; (...) Since the asphalt floats on the surface of the lake, to those who view it from a distance it takes the appearance of an island.” (trans. C.H. Oldfather); Dsc. 1.73: ἄσφαλτος διαφέρει ἡ ᾿Ιουδαικὴ τῆς λοιπῆς. ἔστι δὲ καλὴ ἡ πορφυροειδῶς στίλβουσα, εὔτονος τῇ ὀσμῇ καὶ βαρεῖα, ἡ δὲ μέλαινα καὶ ῥυπώδης φαύλη· δολοῦται γὰρ πίσσης μειγνυμένης. γεννᾶται δὲ καὶ ἐν Φοινίκῃ καὶ ἐν Σιδῶνι καὶ ἐν Βαβυλῶνι καὶ ἐν Ζακύνθῳ· γίνεται δὲ καὶ κατὰ τὴν ᾿Ακραγαντίνων χώρων τῆς Σικελίας ὑγρὸν ἐπινηχόμενον ταῖς κρήναις, ᾧ χρῶνται εἰς τοὺς λύχνους ἀντὶ ἐλαίου, καλοῦντες αὐτὸ Σικελὸν ἔλαιον πλανώμενοι· ἔστι γὰρ ἀσφάλτου ὑγρᾶς εἶδος. – “Asphalt from Judea far surpasses the rest. It is of fine quality when shining purple, lively in scent, and heavy; but that which is black and dirty is poor, for it is adulterated mixing it with pitch. It is produced also in Phoenicia, Sidon, Babylon, and Zacynthos. Up and down the land of the Agrigentes of Sicily a liquid floats on wells, which people use in their lamps instead of oil and which they incorrectly call a Sicilian oil, for it is a type of liquid asphalt.” (trans. L.Y. Beck). Furthermore, cf. the expression ἄσφαλτος ᾿Ιουδαϊκή (Gal. 13.536, 560, 781).
🅔 Probably a Semitic loanword – Akkadian zibtu or ziptu ‘pitch (also bitumen?)’ (from Aramaic), Biblical Hebrew zep̄eṯ ‘pitch’, Jewish Aramaic zpt, zip̄tā ‘id.’, Samaritan Aramaic zpt ‘id.’, Syriac zeptā ‘id.’, Geʿez zəft ‘resin, pitch, bitumen’, Arabic zift ‘pitch, asphalt’. In Greek, a metathesis *zVp̄- → ἀσφ- took place; cf. ἀξίνη, ἀρσενικóν. The liquid λ /l/ is secondary, added before a dental consonant; cf. βάλσαμον, μάνδαλος. It is worth noting that ἄσφαλτος is generally of feminine gender like its Semitic counterparts. As regards the meaning, pitch and bitumen were used for the same purposes and often mixed together; cf. ἀσφαλτόπισσα and πισσάσφαλτος, as well as German Erdpech ‘bitumen’. According to the most widespread hypothesis, ἄσφαλτος is a verbal adjective of σφάλλω ‘to make to fall, to cause to fall’ (with the privative ἀ-); ἄσφαλτος would denote a material protecting walls from tumbling down’. Other hypothesis: 1. a substrate word; 2. a Semitic word connected with Arabic ṯufl ‘dregs, lees, sediment; residues’ (quoted as ṯāfil).
📖 Data: CAD: XXI, 104 (zibtu ‘pitch’); CDA: 448 (ziptu ‘pitch, bitumen’); CDG: 632; CHD: III, 129; DJBA: 410f.; DJPA: 181; DMWA: 378; DSA: 238; HALOT: 277; SL: 392. Ref.: Rosół 2013: 26-28; cf. DELG: 130; Diels 1916: 207-210; EDG: 159; GEW: I, 174; Lewy 1895: 53.