maelstrom
Pronunciation
- IPA: /ˈmeɪl.stɹəm/ (UK); /ˈmeɪl.stɹəm/, /ˈmæl.stɹəm/ (US)[1]
Etymology
It is borrowed from Dutch Maelstrom, an obsolete Dutch spelling (now maalstroom),[2][3][4][5][6] literally “grinding stream”,[4] from malen “to grind” and stroom “stream”.[2][3][4][5][6] Barnhart and Etymonline say it came into English partly through Danish malstrøm.[3][4] It is related to meal and stream.[6]
Earliest recorded meaning
The name of a famous whirlpool off the north-west coast of Norway, as Malestrand (about 1560).[7][3][4]
Semantic evolution
The Norwegian whirlpool was believed to suck in and destroy any ship that came near.[7][4] The figurative sense of turbulent confusion appeared in 1831,[7][3] and the use for any great whirlpool was popularized about 1841, the year of Edgar Allan Poe's A Descent into the Maelström.[3][4]
Timeline
- about 1560 – Malestrand, the Norwegian whirlpool.[7][3][4]
- 1595 – used by Mercator on maps.[4]
- 1682 – Male Stream.[3][5]
- 1701 – Maelstrom.[3]
- 1831 – figurative, turbulent confusion.[7][3]
- about 1841 – any great whirlpool.[3][4]
Modern meaning
Noun
- A large, powerful whirlpool.
- A violent or turbulent situation; turmoil.
Usage notes
Random House gives tumult, pandemonium and bedlam as synonyms of the figurative sense.[6]
References
- ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ a b c d Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
- ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press