Turpentine#Venice turpentine

The word turpentine derives (via French and Latin) from the Greek word τερεβινθίνη, terebinthine in English, in turn the feminine form (to conform to the feminine gender of the Greek word, which means 'resin') of an adjective (τερεβίνθινος) derived from the Greek noun τερέβινθος for the terebinth tree.{{cite book | last=Barnhart | first=R. K. | title=The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology | location=New York | publisher=Harper Collins | year=1995 | isbn=0-06-270084-7}}

Although the word originally referred to the resinous exudate of terebinth trees (e.g. Chios turpentine, Cyprus turpentine, and Persian turpentine),{{Cite book |last=Skeat |first=Walter W. |url=https://archive.org/details/conciseetymologi002983mbp/page/579/mode/2up |title=A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1882 |location=Oxford, UK |pages=579}}{{Cite journal |last1=Mills |first1=John S. |last2=White |first2=Raymond |date=1977 |title=Natural Resins of Art and Archaeology Their Sources, Chemistry, and Identification |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1505670 |journal=Studies in Conservation |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=12–31 |doi=10.2307/1505670 |issn=0039-3630 |jstor=1505670|url-access=subscription }} it now refers to that of coniferous trees, namely crude turpentine (e.g. Venice turpentine is the oleoresin of larch),{{Cite journal |last=Mahood |first=S. A. |date=1921-03-01 |title=Larch (Venice) Turpentine from Western Larch (Larix occidentalis) |url=https://academic.oup.com/jof/article-abstract/19/3/274/4752261 |journal=Journal of Forestry |volume=19 |issue=3 |pages=274–282 |doi=10.1093/jof/19.3.274 |doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 |issn=0022-1201}} or the volatile oil part thereof, namely oil (spirit) of turpentine; the latter usage is much more common today.{{Cite web |title=Turpentine |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/turpentine |access-date=2022-03-02 |website=Britannica}}

File:CupGutterSystem.jpg" in use on turpentine trees in Northern Florida, circa 1936]]

File:Chipping a turpentine tree.jpg

File:Turpentine face Clinch Co, GA, US, 2.jpg

File:PSM V48 D518 Turpentine still at Manlyn North Carolina.jpg

Important pines for turpentine production include maritime pine (Pinus pinaster), Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis), Masson's pine (Pinus massoniana), Sumatran pine (Pinus merkusii), longleaf pine (Pinus palustris), loblolly pine (Pinus taeda), slash pine (Pinus elliottii), and ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa).

{{see also|Rosin#Purification}}

Crude turpentine collected from the trees may be evaporated by steam distillation in a copper still. Molten rosin remains in the still bottoms after turpentine has been distilled out.Kent p.571 Such turpentine is called gum turpentine.{{Cite web |title=Turpentine |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/turpentine |access-date=2022-05-16 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica}} The term gum turpentine may also refer to crude turpentine, which may cause some confusion.

Turpentine may alternatively be extracted from destructive distillation of pine wood, such as shredded pine stumps, roots, and slash, using the light end of the heavy naphtha fraction (boiling between {{convert|90|and|115|°C|disp=or|round=5}}) from a crude-oil refinery. Such turpentine is called wood turpentine. Multi-stage counter-current extraction is commonly used so that fresh naphtha first contacts wood leached in previous stages and naphtha laden with turpentine from previous stages contacts fresh wood before vacuum distillation to recover naphtha from the turpentine. Leached wood is steamed for additional naphtha recovery prior to burning for energy recovery.Kent pp.571&572

When producing chemical wood pulp from pines or other coniferous trees, sulfate turpentine may be condensed from the gas generated in Kraft process pulp digesters. The average yield of crude sulfate turpentine is 5–10 kg/t pulp.{{cite book |editor1-first= Per |editor1-last= Stenius |title= Forest Products Chemistry|series= Papermaking Science and Technology |volume= 3|year= 2000|publisher=Fapet Oy : Published in cooperation with the Finnish Paper Engineers' Association and TAPPI |location= Finland |isbn=952-5216-03-9 |pages= 73–76 |chapter= 2 }} Unless burned at the mill for energy production, sulfate turpentine may require additional treatment measures to remove traces of sulfur compounds.Kent p.572

As a solvent, turpentine is used for thinning oil-based paints, for producing varnishes, and as a raw material for the chemical industry. Its use as a solvent in industrialized nations has largely been replaced by the much cheaper turpentine substitutes obtained from petroleum such as white spirit. A solution of turpentine and beeswax or carnauba wax has long been used as a furniture wax.

Spirits of turpentine, called camphine, were burned in lamps with glass chimneys in the 1830s through the 1860s. Turpentine blended with grain alcohol was known as burning fluid. Both were used as domestic lamp fuels, gradually replacing whale oil, until kerosene, gas lighting, and electric lights began to predominate.

Turpentine is also used as a source of raw materials in the synthesis of fragrant chemical compounds. Commercially used camphor, linalool, alpha-terpineol, and geraniol are all usually produced from alpha-pinene and beta-pinene, which are two of the chief chemical components of turpentine. These pinenes are separated and purified by distillation. The mixture of diterpenes and triterpenes that is left as residue after turpentine distillation is sold as rosin.

• Turpentine is also added to many cleaning and sanitary products due to its antiseptic properties and its "clean scent".
• In early 19th-century America, spirits of turpentine (camphine) were burned in lamps as a cheap alternative to whale oil. It produced a bright light but had a strong odour.{{cite web | author=Charles H. Haswell | title=Reminiscences of New York By an Octogenarian (1816 - 1860) | url=https://www.jmisc.net/octo/octo-17.htm | access-date=2008-10-07 | archive-date=2008-07-24 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724111316/https://www.jmisc.net/octo/octo-17.htm | url-status=live }} Camphine and burning fluid (a mix of alcohol and turpentine) served as the dominant lamp fuels replacing whale oil until the advent of kerosene, electric lights, and gas lighting.{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/this-post-is-hopelessly-long-w|title=The "Whale Oil Myth"|date=20 August 2008|website=PBS NewsHour|access-date=25 March 2018|archive-date=10 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190510142257/https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/this-post-is-hopelessly-long-w|url-status=live}}
• Honda motorcycles, first manufactured in 1946, ran on a blend of gasoline and turpentine, due to the scarcity of gasoline in Japan following World War II.{{cite web | title=Honda History | url=https://smokeriders.com/History/Honda_History/body_honda_history.html | publisher=Smokeriders.com | access-date=2009-09-17 | archive-date=2009-04-28 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090428051223/https://smokeriders.com/History/Honda_History/body_honda_history.html | url-status=live }} The French Emeraude rocket uses a similar fuel mixture.{{cite book |id=AEE |title=Ariane: Une Épopée Européenne |page=45 |last1=Huon |first1=William |publisher=ETAI |date=2007 |location=Boulogne-Billancourt, France |isbn=9782726887097 |oclc=422135584 |lccn=2008398197 }} Turpentine has also been researched as a potential biofuel for mixing into gasoline.{{cite journal |last1=Arpa |first1=O. |last2=Yumrutas |first2=R. |last3=Alma |first3=M.H. |title=Effects of turpentine and gasoline-like fuel obtained from waste lubrication oil on engine performance and exhaust emission |journal=Energy |date=September 2010 |volume=35 |issue=9 |pages=3603–3613 |doi=10.1016/j.energy.2010.04.050|bibcode=2010Ene....35.3603A }}{{cite journal |last1=Knuuttila |first1=Pekka |title=Wood sulphate turpentine as a gasoline bio-component |journal=Fuel |date=February 2013 |volume=104 |pages=101–108 |doi=10.1016/j.fuel.2012.06.036|bibcode=2013Fuel..104..101K }}
• In his book If Only They Could Talk, veterinarian and author James Herriot describes the use of the reaction of turpentine with resublimed iodine to "drive the iodine into the tissue", or perhaps just impress the watching customer with a spectacular treatment (a dense cloud of purple smoke).{{cite book|url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/Only-They-Could-Talk-Collectors-ebook/dp/B008I33ZWQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1530212880&sr=8-1&keywords=if+only+they+could+talk|title=If Only They Could Talk|date=28 June 2012|access-date=28 June 2018|via=www.amazon.co.uk|archive-date=13 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210213010934/https://www.amazon.co.uk/Only-They-Could-Talk-Collectors-ebook/dp/B008I33ZWQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1530212880&sr=8-1&keywords=if+only+they+could+talk|url-status=live}}, summarised at {{cite web|url=https://jamesherriotbooks.blogspot.com/2008/08/if-only-they-could-talk-ch-3.html/|title=James Herriot Books|access-date=28 June 2018}}{{Dead link|date=February 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

{{NFPA 704|Health = 1|Flammability = 3|Reactivity = 0}}

Turpentine is highly flammable, so much so that it has been considered as an automotive fuel.

Turpentine was added extensively into gin during the Gin Craze.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-28486017|title=When gin was full of sulphuric acid and turpentine|first=Finlo|last=Rohrer|work=BBC News|date=28 July 2014|access-date=2 January 2018|archive-date=19 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180719043601/https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-28486017|url-status=live}}

Turpentine's vapour can irritate the skin and eyes, damage the lungs and respiratory system, as well as the central nervous system when inhaled, and cause damage to the renal system when ingested, among other things.{{Cite web|title = CDC - NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards - Turpentine - Symptoms|url = https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npg/npgd0648.html|website = www.cdc.gov|access-date = 2015-11-27|archive-date = 2015-12-08|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151208123745/https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npg/npgd0648.html|url-status = live}} Ingestion can cause burning sensations, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, confusion, convulsions, diarrhea, tachycardia, unconsciousness, respiratory failure,{{cite web | url = https://www.inchem.org/documents/icsc/icsc/eics1063.htm | title = Turpentine | publisher = International Programme on Chemical Safety, World Health Organization | access-date = 2006-04-02 | archive-date = 2006-04-27 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060427165609/https://www.inchem.org/documents/icsc/icsc/eics1063.htm | url-status = live }} and chemical pneumonia.

The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has set the legal limit (permissible exposure limit) for turpentine exposure in the workplace as 100 ppm (560 mg/m³) over an 8-hour workday. The same threshold was adopted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) as the recommended exposure limit (REL). At levels of 800 ppm (4480 mg/m³), turpentine is immediately dangerous to life and health.{{Cite web|title = CDC - NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards - Turpentine|url = https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npg/npgd0648.html|website = www.cdc.gov|access-date = 2015-11-27|archive-date = 2015-12-08|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151208123745/https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npg/npgd0648.html|url-status = live}}

Turpentine and petroleum distillates such as coal oil and kerosene, were used in folk medicine for abrasions and wounds, as a treatment for lice, and when mixed with animal fat, as a chest rub or inhaler for nasal and throat ailments.{{cite news

|url=https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1606945926/

|title=Surviving 'The Spanish Lady' (Spanish flu)

|work=CBC News

|date=2003-04-10

|quote=A turpentine and hot water, and [wring hot towels out of there], and put it on their chest and back. --Elsie Miller (nee Smith)

|time=03:20

|access-date=2018-12-29

|archive-date=2020-08-07

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807221113/https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1606945926

|url-status=live

}}{{cite news |author=Sarah Rieger |date=December 29, 2018 |title=100 years ago, a train carrying Spanish flu pulled into Calgary. Within weeks, Alberta was in crisis |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/spanish-flu-alberta-history-1.4948081 |work=CBC News |access-date=December 29, 2018 |archive-date=December 29, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181229183935/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/spanish-flu-alberta-history-1.4948081 |url-status=live }} Vicks chest rubs still contain turpentine in their formulations, although not as an active ingredient.{{Cite web|title=DailyMed - VICKS VAPORUB (camphor- synthetic, eucalyptus oil, and menthol ointment|url=https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?setid=e69a7c9b-fd04-4109-a7c8-6edfd83855fc|access-date=2021-05-05|website=dailymed.nlm.nih.gov|archive-date=2021-05-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505064609/https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?setid=e69a7c9b-fd04-4109-a7c8-6edfd83855fc|url-status=live}}

Turpentine, now understood to be dangerous for consumption, was a common medicine among seamen during the Age of Discovery. It was one of several products carried aboard Ferdinand Magellan's fleet during the first circumnavigation of the globe.{{cite book | author=Laurence Bergreen | author-link=Laurence Bergreen | title=Over the edge of the world : Magellan's terrifying circumnavigation of the globe | url=https://archive.org/details/overedgeofworl00berg | year=2003 | publisher=HarperCollins | isbn=0066211735 | access-date=2009-09-14 | url-access=registration }} Taken internally, it was used as a treatment for intestinal parasites. This is dangerous, due to the chemical's toxicity.{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/timeline/riseind/rural/remedies.html|title=Home Remedies - American Memory Timeline- Classroom Presentation|publisher=The Library of Congress|work=American Memory Timeline|access-date=2017-02-06|archive-date=2017-02-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170207031310/https://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/timeline/riseind/rural/remedies.html|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.inchem.org/documents/icsc/icsc/eics1063.htm|title=ICSC 1063 - TURPENTINE|website=www.inchem.org|access-date=2006-04-02|archive-date=2006-04-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060427165609/https://www.inchem.org/documents/icsc/icsc/eics1063.htm|url-status=live}}

Turpentine enemas, a very harsh purgative, had formerly been used for stubborn constipation or impaction.{{cite web |url=https://www.biology-online.org/dictionary/Turpentine_enema |title=Turpentine enema |website=Biology-Online Dictionary |date=7 October 2019 |publisher=Biology-Online |access-date=2019-12-26 |archive-date=2019-04-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190421005931/https://www.biology-online.org/dictionary/Turpentine_enema |url-status=live }} They were also given punitively to political dissenters in post-independence Argentina."Ribbons and Rituals". In "Problems in Modern Latin American History". Ed. Chasteen and Wood. Oxford, UK: Scholarly Resources, 2005. p. 97, ISBN 9781442218598 and 9781442218604

• {{annotated link|Galipot}}
• McCranie's Turpentine Still – a historic site in Willacoochee, Georgia
• {{annotated link|Naval stores}}
• Patent medicine – over-the-counter "proprietary" medications
• {{annotated link|Retsina}} flavored with Aleppo pine resin
• Russia leather – a water-resistant leather curried after tanning with a birch oil distillate similar to turpentine

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Commons category|Turpentine}}

{{AmCyc Poster|Turpentine}}

{{EB9 Poster|Turpentine}}

• [https://www.inchem.org/documents/icsc/icsc/eics1063.htm Inchem.org], IPCS INCHEM Turpentine classification, hazard, and property table.
• [https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npg/npgd0648.html CDC - NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards - Turpentine]

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