Talk:Tropical cyclone/Etymology

www.hatano-es.com/kiyo/journal/archives/000103.htm

I used to think that the word "typhoon" came from Japanese. We have kanji characters meaning typhoon and its pronunciation is something like "Thai-who", which sounds similar to typhoon. As Kurt points out, if a word comes from a foreign language other than Chinese, we usually write it in katakana, a syllabary used mainly for representing foreign words. Then the Japanese Thai-who is from Chinese? I searched the Net and found there is no distinct answer for this. Who in the world is Thai-who? One potent theory puts it that Thai-who comes from English typhoon, applied the pronunciation into kanji. Wow. And another one is, as you can see, from Chinese. What makes the matter more confusing, some sources say that the Chinese version of typhoon may come from another language, such as Greek or Arabic. Hey, it's similar to the etymology of typhoon!

OK, the answer remains to be a mystery. Anyway, English has typhoon, and Japanese has Thai-who. No problem....

www.expreso.co.cr/centaurs/posts/notes/96tl66.htm

The Arabic word is tufan, which is used habitually in India for a sudden and violent storm. Lane defines it as meaning 'an overpowering rain, . Noah's flood,' etc. And there can be little doubt of its identity with the Greek [Greek Text] tufwn or [Greek Text] tufwn [But Burton (Ar. Nights, iii. 257) alleges that it is pure Arabic, and comes from the root going round.'] This word [Greek Text] tufwn (the etymologists say, from [Greek Text] tufw, 'I raise smoke') was applied to a demon-giant or Titan, and either directly from the etym. meaning or from the name of the Titan (as in India a whirlwind is called 'a Devil or Pisachee') waterspout,' and thence to analogous stormy phenomena. 'Waterspout' seems evidently the meaning of [Greek Text] tufwn in the Meteorologica of Aristotle ( [Greek Text] gignetai men oun tufwn . [Greek Text] k. t. l.) iii. 1; the passage is exceedingly difficult to render clearly); and also in the quotation which we give from Aulus Gellius. The word may have come to the Arabs either in maritime intercourse, or through the translations of Aristotle. It occurs (al-tufan) several times in the Koran; thus in sura, vii. 134, for a flood or storm, one of the plagues of Egypt, and in s. xxix. 14 for the Deluge. [HOBSON JOBSON: THE ANGLO-INDIAN DICTIONARY PAGES 947-948]

www.geocities.com/batal77/arabimpact.htm

Typhoon: tufan طوفان Whirlwind *Gk

www.wordwizard.com/clubhouse/founddiscuss.asp%3FNum%3D6337

American Heritage Dictionary

TYPHOON: A tropical cyclone occurring in the western Pacific or Indian oceans. [Greek tuphon, ‘whirlwind,’ and Arabic ‘tufan,’ deluge (from Greek ‘tuphon’), and Chinese (Cantonese) ‘taaifung equivalent to Chinese (Mandarin) ‘tái,’ great + Chinese (Mandarin) ‘feng,’ wind).]

Word History: The history of typhoon presents a perfect example of the long journey that many words made in coming to English. It traveled from Greece to Arabia to India, and ALSO AROSE INDEPENDENTLY IN CHINA, before assuming its current form in our language. The Greek word ‘tuphon,’ used both as the name of the father of the winds and a common noun meaning ‘whirlwind, ‘typhoon,’ was borrowed into Arabic during the Middle Ages, when Arabic learning both preserved and expanded the classical heritage and passed it on to Europe and other parts of the world. ‘Tufan,’ the Arabic version of the Greek word, passed into languages spoken in India, where Arabic-speaking Muslim invaders had settled in the 11th century. Thus the descendant of the Arabic word, passing into English (first recorded in 1588) through an Indian language and appearing in English in forms such as ‘touffon’ and ‘tufan,’ originally referred specifically to a severe storm in India. The modern form of ‘typhoon’ was influenced by a borrowing from the Cantonese variety of Chinese, namely the word ‘taaifung,’ and respelled to make it look more like Greek. ‘Taaifung,’ meaning literally “great wind,” was coincidentally similar to the Arabic borrowing and is first recorded in English guise as ‘tuffoon’ in 1699. The various forms coalesced and finally became ‘typhoon,’ a spelling that first appeared in 1819 in “Shelley's Prometheus Unbound.”

Merriam-Webster New Book of Word Histories

TYPHOON: The first ‘typhoons’ reported in English were Indian storms and were called ‘touffons’ or ‘tufans.’ the rather Gallic spelling of ‘touffon’ reflected the pronunciation of the first syllable, which rhymed with ‘you’ than ‘I.’ Although Arabic was not one of the chief languages of India, it is the language of the Koran, and Islam had become one of India’s major religions. It was the Arabic ‘tufan,’ a word for a violent flood or hurricane, that the English found in India and borrowed as ‘touffon.’ Later, when English ships met violent storms in the neighborhood of the China Sea, Englishmen learned the Cantonese word for a big wind (taai fung’), which is by MERE CHANCE similar to ‘touffon.’ The influence of ‘taai fung’ explains the present altered sound and shape of ‘typhoon.’ [alteration (influenced by Chinese Cantonese ‘tai fung,’ typhoon, from ‘taai’ great + ‘fung’ wind) of earlier ‘touffon,’ ‘tufan,’ form Arabic ‘tufan,’ hurricane, deluge, from Greek ‘typhon,’ whirlwind; akin to Greek ‘typhein,’ to smoke]

Ayto’s Dictionary of Word Origins

TYPHOON: [16th century]: A ‘typhoon’ is etymologically a ‘great wind.’ The word was adapted from Cantonese Chinese ‘daai feng,’ great wind,’ its form no doubt influenced by Greek ‘tuphon,’ father of the winds in Greek mythology (his name was derived from the verb ‘tuphein,’ smoke, which has also produced ‘tuphos,’ smoke, hence ‘fever causing delusion,’ source of English ‘stew,’ typhoid,’ and ‘typhus.’

Oxford Dictionary of Word Histories

TYPHOON [late 16th century]: This is partly via Portuguese !!! from Arabic ‘tufan’ (PERHAPS from Greek ‘tuphon,’ whirlwind; it was reinforced by Chinese dialect ‘tai fung,’ big wind.’

Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology

TYPHOON noun 1555: ‘Tiphon,’ violent storm, hurricane; borrowed from Greek ‘typhon’; later ‘touffon,’ presumably borrowed from Chinese (Cantonese) ‘tai fung,’ a great wind; influenced in form by Greek ‘typhon,’ whirlwind, and by English ending ‘-OON.’ It is also probable that the identical meaning of Arabic, Persian, and Hindi ‘tufan’ (from Greek ‘typhon’) influenced the adoption and formation of this word in English. The spelling ‘typhoon’ is not recorded until 1819>

Various

• <1588 “I went a boord of the Shippe of Bengala, at which time it was the yeere of TOUFFON.” ‘Ibid.’ page 35, “This TOUFFON or cruell storme endured three dayes and three nightes.”—“Frederick’s Voyage’ translation by T. Hickock, page 34b> first appearance of ‘touffon’ in print
• <1699 “The violent Storms called TUFFOONS (Typhones).”—‘Voyage’ (1729) by W, Dampier, II. i. page 35> first appearance of ‘tuffoon’ in print
• <1771 “Exceeding great storms (called TAY-FUN by the Chinese).”—‘Osbecj’s Voyage’ by translation by J. R. Forester, I. page 169>
• <1806 “A Danish . . . ship . . . encountered a TY-FOONG.”—‘Naval Chronicles,’ XV. page 465>
• <1819 “My coursers . . . out~strip the Typhoon [‘rime’ moon].”—‘Prometheus Unbound’ by Shelly, II. iv.> first appearance of ‘typhoon’ in print
• <1848 “The increased temperature on the southern coast during . . . June and July operates . . . to produce violent storms along the seaboard, called TYFOONS, from the Chinese ‘ta-fung,’ or ‘great wind’.”—“ The Middle Kingdom: A Survey of the Geography, etc. of the Chinese Empire” by S. W. Williams, I. ii. page 49>

(Oxford English Dictionary)