Where does “hydrocarbon” come from?
I need to flag a critical issue: the etymology chain provided doesn't support the word "hydrocarbon."
The chain given (English carbon ← French carbone ← Ancient Greek ὕδωρ ← PIE ker- ← PIE wed- ← PIE wey-) is internally incoherent:
1. **Ancient Greek ὕδωρ** means "water," not "coal/carbon"
2. **French carbone** (from Latin carbon-) relates to coal/charcoal, not water
3. The chain jumps illogically from a water-etymology back to carbon
4. "Hydrocarbon" contains both elements (hydro- = water, -carbon = coal), but this chain doesn't trace that compound
A legitimate hydrocarbon etymology would trace:
- hydro- from Greek ὕδωρ (water)
-
hydrocarbon (English): A compound consisting only of carbon and hydrogen...
Definitions
- A compound consisting only of carbon and hydrogen...
Ancestry of “hydrocarbon”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | carbon | The chemical element with an atomic number of 6.... |
| 2 | English | budget | The amount of money or resources earmarked for a... |
| 3 | Middle English | bogett | — |
| 4 | Old French | bougette | — |
| 5 | Old French | bouge | sack; purse; small bag |
| 6 | Latin | bulga | knapsack, wallet, satchel; wallet, purse; womb |
| 7 | Gaulish | bolgā | bag, sack |
| 8 | Proto-Celtic | bolgos | sack, bag; stomach |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | bʰelǵʰ- | to swell |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | bʰel- | to sound; to speak, roar, bark; shiny, white; to... |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | bʰōl- | — |
Words derived from “hydrocarbon”