Antedating of "Tsunami" (UNCLASSIFIED)

Mon Mar 1 17:45:40 UTC 2010

OED 1989 dates the apposite sense of _tidal wave_ to Thomas H. Huxley, a
non-dumbass, in 1878 (though the bibilo dates the same book to 1877).  OED
calls the usage "erroneous," though it is not entirely clear why, except
that its 1899 ex. (the sole other one) explains that scientists prefer "free
wave."  OED  observes that it is "caused by an earthquake or other local
commotion."  (I would rephrase that.)
A Google and newspaper search might yield interesting results.

JL

On Mon, Mar 1, 2010 at 11:59 AM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC <
Bill.Mullins at us.army.mil> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
> Subject:      Re: Antedating of "Tsunami" (UNCLASSIFIED)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
>
> The usage Fred quotes below is presumably a Japanese fisherman crying
> "Tsunami!", so his statement "The usage here is not entirely naturalized
> into English" is appropriate.  However, earlier in the article (at least
> in the Philly Inquirer version), the statement is made:
>
> "The dreaded tsunami (sea wave) was not altogether new to some of those
> who were so soon to become its victims."  [col 2]
>
> which seems entirely naturalized to me.
>
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> > Behalf Of Sam Clements
> > Sent: Sunday, February 28, 2010 10:26 AM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: Re: Antedating of "Tsunami"
> >
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> ---------------
> > --------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Sam Clements <SClements at NEO.RR.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: Antedating of "Tsunami"
> >
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > --------
> >
> > Genealolgy Bank shows the same story in the Sunday Magazine(p25) of
> the
> > Philadelphia Inquirer, 26 July 1896, in perfect English.
> >
> > Sam Clements
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> > To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Sent: Sunday, February 28, 2010 07:48
> > Subject: Antedating of "Tsunami"
> >
> >
> > > Newspaperarchive has a slightly earlier occurrence of "tsunami":
> > >
> > > Semi-Weekly Cedar Falls Gazette, The - July 28, 1896, Cedar Falls,
> > Iowa
> > >
> > > ...rescuers were terri wihile in the latter 2655 out of 3747 were
> > killed
> > > it was shortly before 8 oclock on the night of monday june 15 that
> > > dwellers near the coast heard strange sound that came out from the
> > sea
> > > swelling on the calm evening air the dreaded tsunami sea wave was
> not
> > > altogethernewto some of those who were su soon to become its victims
> > but
> > > it is asserted that tha people were exceedingly slow to realize the
> > > immensity of the danger that threat ened them tsunami cried terror
> > > stricken fisherman and tsunami pass ed the echoing wail...
> > >
> > > The usage here is not entirely naturalized into English.
> > >
> > > Fred Shapiro
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > ________________________________________
> > > From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
> > > victor steinbok [aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM]
> > > Sent: Saturday, February 27, 2010 11:42 PM
> > > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > > Subject: Re: *tsunamus
> > >
> > > Interesting that the OED missed such a trivial publication as
> > National
> > > Geographic for Sept. 1896 for antedating tsunami. In fact, the
> entire
> > > cover story is devoted to it (specifically to one of June 15, 1896,
> > > pp. 285-9). The Atlantic was not to be outdone, placing a story, A
> > > Living God, in the Dec. 1896 issue of the Monthly (pp. 833-41).
> > >
> > > There is also a Tsunami entry in the Helpburn's
> > > Japanese-English/English-Japanese Dictionary, 2nd/4th ed.,
> 1872/1888,
> > > p. 567/695 (see also entry on p. /166)
> > >
> > >> TSUNAMI, [], n., A large waves that rolls over and inundates the
> > land.
> > > [There is also a verb that shares the same first two characters.]
> > >
> > >> HISSARAE, -RU, [], t.v., to take all away; to sweep away, to make a
> > clean
> > >> sweep: tsunami /wa ie kua wo/ --, the huge wave swept away the
> house
> > and
> > >> godown [added in 4th ed.: /kane wo -- te nigeru/].
> > >
> > > Note, however, that 1) this is a dictionary and the words are in
> > > Japanese, not adopted in English, and 2) the 2nd edition was
> > published
> > > in Shanghai by the American Presbyterian Mission, before it was
> > picked
> > > up by international publishers; the 4th and subsequent editions (not
> > > sure about 3rd) were published by Z.P. Maruya, Tokyo, Kelly & Walsh,
> > > Yokohama/Shanghai/Singapore, and Trubner & Co in London.
> > >
> > > The same definition is in Ichikawa's New Pocket Dictionary, also
> from
> > > 1888 (Yokohama).
> > >
> > > So the actual antedating is only by one year, but there might be
> more
> > > a bit earlier--just not on GB (majority of hits on {tsunami
> pre-1900}
> > > were false--about half were false dates and half bad OCR, especially
> > > the ones to the first half of the XIXth century and those in other
> > > European languages).
> > >
> > > VS-)
> > >
> > > PS: Sorry about the links--I am on a computer where no URL
> shortening
> > > is set up, so I am skipping it. The titles should be easy to find.
> > >
> > > On Sat, Feb 27, 2010 at 8:35 PM, Laurence Horn
> > <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
> > > wrote:
> > >>
> > >> At 6:34 PM -0500 2/27/10, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > >>>One of Honolulu's news anchors apologized on CNN for having said
> > "tidal
> > >>>wave" when he meant "tsunami." He also emphasized that "tsunami" is
> > >>>"singular."
> > >>>
> > >>>Perhaps someone complained about apparent subject-verb discord.
> > >>>
> > >>>JL
> > >>
> > >> No, it's not Latin, it's Italian:  Would you like to much on a
> tasty
> > >> panino while you watch the tsunamo?  Of course in the original
> > >> Italian it was "zunamo", but it is a loan word after all.
> > >>
> > >> LH
> > >
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