# Why are there so many terms for gasoline? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 5, 2005, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-terms-for-gasoline/293061 "2005-03-05T07:50:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Merkwurdigliebe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/74df32/32.png) [@Merkwurdigliebe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merkwurdigliebe)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2005, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-terms-for-gasoline/293061/1 "2005-03-05T07:50:19Z")
Okay, I’ll put out what I know so far: German: Benzin Enlish UK: Petrol American: Gasoline Spanish (Spain): Gasolina French: Essence For Diesel, I know: Spanish (Spain): gasóleo English: Diesel German: Diesel Now Diesel seems to be more standardized, because the inventor of the diesel engine was named Diesel ( I think ), so that makes sense. Apparently someone decided that a certain type of fuel was a good fuel for a diesel engine so it became diesel fuel. But why so many names for gasoline? Now as far as I know about linguistics, obviously different languages have different words for the same thing. Also, it seems that things that were invented after the colonial split (for instance, an elevator or flashlight) have different words in the US and UK. Interestingly a hood and a bonnet are somewhat similar and are also the differing words in the UK and the US for the part of the car that opens up to reveal the motor in the front. But the gasoline situation really makes things seem strange. From my limited knowledge, there are a few things strange. Firstly, most scientific names of compounds tend to be similar across all languages. But when you look at Benzin in German, it should be pretty analogous to benzine, but in English it isn’t gas. Also, why is it so similar in Spanish and American English, but not American and UK English? The only thing I can think of is various coporations controling the market in various countries leading to these strange names. But then, why is it the same in Mexico and South America as in Spain? Surely there wasn’t gasoline during colonization. I don’t know so much about Spanish in South America so I could be wrong there. Basically this is something that has perplexed me for a while. Most things considering linguistics aren’t so hard for me to figure out. Especially newer terms like gasoline. So what’s the rub? ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2005, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-terms-for-gasoline/293061/2 "2005-03-06T14:52:20Z")
IIRC “gasoline” was a tradename and only one company was allowed to use the word, until tradename misuse lost them their exclusivity. Other names would have been necessary during that time. Also, “Benzene” (no “i”, right? sorry if i remember wrong!) is a good name for it because it’s the largest ingredient, followed by toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene. “gasoline” was never a technical “chemical name”. ---
**Author:** ![twhitt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@twhitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twhitt)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2005, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-terms-for-gasoline/293061/3 "2005-03-06T15:12:32Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > IIRC “gasoline” was a tradename and only one company was allowed to use the word, until tradename misuse lost them their exclusivity. Other names would have been necessary during that time. The [Wikipedia entry on Petrol](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline#History) lists Petrol as a trade name. It is silent on the same point for gasoline. For all my searching, I’m unable to find any cite that lists gasoline as a trade name. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2005, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-terms-for-gasoline/293061/4 "2005-03-06T17:31:59Z")
“binzine” in Russian as well. ---
**Author:** ![kferr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2005, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-terms-for-gasoline/293061/5 "2005-03-06T18:56:50Z")
In France, diesel is gasoil (spelling may be wrong). And in the US pariffin is a wax while in the UK it is kerosene. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2005, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-terms-for-gasoline/293061/6 "2005-03-06T19:08:21Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > Also, “Benzene” (no “i”, right? sorry if i remember wrong!). You remember wrong: the name for the liquid used as motor fuel DOES get spelled with an “i”. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2005, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-terms-for-gasoline/293061/7 "2005-03-06T19:50:34Z")
According to the OED, the gasoline/petrol difference started in or about 1890-95. The substance was known in France at that time as _essence de pétrol_(although it was also cited as being called simply _pétrole_) by 1892. The British probably were calling it benzine. They(the Brits) probably started calling it _petrol_ in imitation of the French. The term _gasolene_ seems to be what the US was calling it by the 1880’s. ---
**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-terms-for-gasoline/293061/8 "2005-03-07T00:39:23Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > Also, “Benzene” (no “i”, right? sorry if i remember wrong!) is a good name for it because it’s the largest ingredient I had thought that benzene (a known carcinogen) was typically less than 1% of modern gasoline formulations in the U.S. Or are you saying that benzene was the largest ingredient back when the name “benzin” was coined? ---
**Author:** ![James\_Westphal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b9bd4f/32.png) [@James\_Westphal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/James_Westphal)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-terms-for-gasoline/293061/9 "2005-03-07T08:15:23Z")
I am wont to believe from looking in the OED that benzine and gasoline are stragglers in the world of nomenclature. In the early days, naming chemicals was not quite as systematic, not that there was no system for naming them, but that there was no singular, universal system. Today we have IUPAC, but there remains still ‘common’ or simpler names for more useful and pedestrian substances, i.e. benzene & toluene. I believe gasoline would infer it to be a derivative of gasol. Benzine, on the other hand, the OED claims to be the original name of Benzene, given by its German inventor. On the other other hand, it now refers to petroleum ether. It’s all very confusing, and I believe I could only add to it. This [article](http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzin) (in German) blames the German use of the term benzin on a man named Justus of Liebig, although the article on him mentions nothing of it. I would assume that their usage of the term refers to the high concentration (gasoline is a mixture of hydrocarbons) of aromatic or aliphatic hydrocarbons, close relatives of benzene, in gasoline (35-40%. Essence in french has four different meanings, in the worlds of chemistry, perfumery, horticulture, and philosophy. My guess is that it is used because it is an ‘aromatic’ extract or product, much like a kind of perfume. It’s a silly way of putting it, but it makes some sense to me. Anyway, for all this I would conjecture that gasoline/petrol/benzin/essence is just, more or less, a linguistic anomaly built up from the manner which one country or another refers to such a substance. Frankly I think the French have the most accurate way of referring to it, as it doesn’t step on any other chemical’s toes. ---
**Author:** ![Hemlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Hemlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hemlock)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-terms-for-gasoline/293061/10 "2005-03-07T11:36:46Z")
Other differences between US and UK usage… Auto/Car Fender/Bumper Trunk/Boot Hood/Bonnet also… Elevator/Lift Movie theater/Cinema Could it be that new inventions in the late 19C early 20C were given names locally before the names had a chance to spread across the ocean? If there had been radio/TV/Internet in those days, we might all use the same terms. ---
**Author:** ![eagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba8739/32.png) [@eagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eagle)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-terms-for-gasoline/293061/11 "2005-03-07T12:22:24Z")
> [@James Westphal](#): > > It’s all very confusing, and I believe I could only add to it. > This [article](http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzin) (in German) blames the German use of the term benzin on a man named Justus of Liebig, although the article on him mentions nothing of it. Very confusing, indeed. Actually it was [Eilhard Mitscherlich](http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/Biographies/MainBiographies/M/Mitscherlich/1.html) who was the first chemist to synthesize “Benzol” (IANAChemist, but this seems to be benzene in english, C6H6), but he named it “Benzin”. Justus von Liebig was not happy about this naming and called the same substance “Benzol”, as it is called today. The name “Benzin” however, remained to be used in the public for specific destillates of raw petroleum. Examples are “Waschbenzin”, “Feuerzeugbenzin” and of course “Benzin” and “Super Benzin” (sorry I dont know the english terms for all of them). BTW, they came to this name, because they synthesized “Benzin/Benzol” out of a substance that already had the name “Benzoeharz”. (see [here](http://www.rollertip.ch/archiv/archiv11.html) in German) And another BTW: The chemist Laurent had another name for it “Phen”, so if his name had gotten popular, we had yet another name for fuel. cu ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-terms-for-gasoline/293061/12 "2005-03-07T13:16:05Z")
To clear up the point about paraffinand the UK. In the UK paraffin is a fuel and is the equivalent of kerosene in the US. In fact the aviation industry uses the latter name over here. liquid paraffin is sold by pharmacies and is used as a laxative and for other medical purposes. There is also paraffin wax which is used in candle making