Grand Unified Theory

David Stockhoff · 25 Aug 2010, 20:56 · from 2010-August.txt.gz

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From: dstockhoff at verizon.net (David Stockhoff)
Date: Wed, 25 Aug 2010 16:56:25 -0400
Subject: (urth) Grand Unified Theory
In-Reply-To: <4C757DCE.5060709 at gmail.com>
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Message-ID: <4C758379.2010502 at verizon.net>

Is it possible that the supposedly Cantonese word "typhoon" is strictly 
an accident arising from a translation to English of a word an Italian 
heard in China under the influence of "typhon"?

That would make the word almost purely Western, gaining its Cantonese 
meaning only because a Chinese word sounds like it. Pure Orientalism.

Ant?nio Marques wrote:
> The best I've seen so far is below, though it gives no evidence at all 
> for the greek connection:
>
> http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/typhoon
> typhoon
> the modern word represents a coincidence and convergence of at least 
> two unrelated words of similar sound and sense. Tiphon  "violent 
> storm, whirlwind, tornado" is recorded from 1555, from Gk. typhon  
> "whirlwind," personified as a giant, father of the winds, perhaps from 
> typhein  "to smoke." The meaning "cyclone, violent hurricane of India 
> or the China Seas" (1588) is first recorded in T. Hickock's 
> translation of an account in Italian of a voyage to the East Indies by 
> C?sar Frederick, a merchant of Venice, probably borrowed from, or 
> infl. by, Chinese (Cantonese) tai fung  "a great wind," from tu  "big" 
> + feng  "wind;" name given to violent cyclonic storms in the China 
> seas. A third possibility is tufan,  a word in Arabic, Persian and 
> Hindi meaning "big cyclonic storm" (and the source of Port. tufao ), 
> which may be from Gk. typhon  but commonly is said to be a noun of 
> action from Arabic tafa  "to turn round."
> Online Etymology Dictionary, ? 2010 Douglas Harper
>
>
> If you ask me, the probability is for arabic tufan for the portuguese 
> version and cantonese tai fung for the english one. The english one 
> having been folk etymologised as coming from greek tufwn, which in 
> latin is typhon, thus getting its <y>.
>
>
>
>
>

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