naphtha=النفط

naphtha=النفط

ONLINE ETYMOLOGY DICTIONARY:

naphtha (n.)

inflammable liquid distilled from petroleum, 1570s, from Latin, from Gk. naphtha "bitumen," perhaps from Persian neft "pitch," or Aramaic naphta, nephta, but these could as well be from Greek. In Middle English as napte (late 14c.), from Old French napte, but the modern word is a re-introduction.

WIKIPEDIA

The word naphtha came from Latin and Greek where it derived from Persian.[2] In Ancient Greek, it was used to refer to any sort of petroleum or pitch. It appears in Arabic as "nafţ" (نَفْط) ("petroleum"), and in Hebrew as "neft" (נֵפְט). Arabs and Persians have used and distilled petroleum for tar and fuel from ancient times, as attested in local Greek and Roman histories of the region.[citation needed]

The second book of the Maccabees in the Septuagint, part of the Old Testament canon in the major Christian denominations: Latin and Greek Catholic, and Greek and Russian Orthodox, uses the word "naphtha" to refer to a miraculously flammable liquid. This account says that Nehemiah and the levitical priests associated with him called the liquid "nephthar," meaning "purification," but "most people" call it naphtha(or Nephi).[3]

NEW WORLD ENCYCLOPEDIA

The origin of the word naphtha is unclear. It was an ancient Greek word that referred to any type of petroleum or pitch. The Greeks themselves borrowed the word from the Old Persian words nafata, naft, or neft, which were used to describe bubbling oil. Naphtha may also have been derived from the name of the Vedic Hindu god Apam Napat, the god of freshwater, sometimes described as a fire god.