Will the price of a liter of gasoline at the pump in France stabilize, go up, go down? Question that we ask ourselves a lot and that poses a lot of French media when speaking, precisely, of the price of gasoline at the pump. An extremely daily expression, slightly mediatic, it is true, and which moreover technically is not absolutely exact because what do we call a petrol pump? Are we still really pumping? We used to pump, we don’t pump anymore.
So instead of gas pump, we quite often use the expression service station, which is borrowed from English. Is it an anglicism? Yes and no, the word, it’s true, was modeled on an American expression. But we must admit that we reversed the terms so that they sound more French. We are talking about service stations, we are not talking about service-stations. And are we talking about gasoline? Well, not in France. The word is absolutely not in use, but it is an expression that can be heard in Africa, especially in West Africa, and in particular in Senegal. It has spread from Senegal to other African countries. She still remains very close to the French in Africa, while she has had the honors of the most prestigious French institutions. It is said to be the first French word from Africa to be entered in the dictionary of the French Academy.
Is the word strange? It is perfectly formed from essence: essence, essence. And gasoline, it is the most common word in France to designate what makes engines run. Even if, technically, we can specify: in the past, we had the ordinary or the super. It no longer exists. Now, we have unleaded and sometimes we can specify the octane number 95 or 98. Unless we take diesel, which is often called diesel. Diesel, DIESEL, diesel with a more Anglicizing spelling, say, DIESEL, it comes from diesel.
But in everyday language, the word essence comes up very frequently. They say that you have to refuel, that you have to avoid running out of gas, and in Africa where we talk about gasoline. We rarely use this word gasoline because we speak very logically of fuel. So where does this word essence come from? It has many meanings, but it designates in particular the state of petroleum once it is refined, that is to say that it is suitable for running the combustion engines with which cars and trucks, and as we often say in Africa, vehicles.
Warning !
This text is the preparatory document for the column Les Mots de l’Actualité. The constraints of the antenna and the precise duration of the chronicle make essential an arrangement which explains the differences between the written and oral versions.
In partnership with the DGeneral Delegation for the French Language and the Languages of France (DGLFLF)