Click here for the first filling station in history, Bertha Benz (Karl Benz's wife) refuelling at a local pharmacy in Wiesloch Germany in 1888, taking on Ligroin, a solvent then referred to as Petroleum Ether, that consisted mostly of C7 and C8 hydrocarbons. Very shortly, the fame of Karl Benz's patented invention skyrocketed. Ligroin became Petroleumbenzin in Germany (benzina in Italy), having a name that also gave a nod to one of its important components benzene, benzol in Germany, and the car's engine became no longer simply a "Gasmotorfabriken", but a "Benzinmotor"
Click here for other early names for motor car fuel — moto essence in France, petrol in England, gasoline in the US — extracted from an early 1899 Automotor Pocket Book of Automotive Formulae and Commercial Intelligence that clarified somewhat the main brands used at the time.