Antedating of "Tsunami" (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Jonathan Lighter]

1843 _Lorain Republican_ (Elyria, O.) (May 17) 2 [NewspaperArchive]: TIDAL
WAVE. A singular phenomenon, which occasioned no little alarm, occurred at
Yarmouth, N.S., on the 18th ult. The Herald, published at that place, says
that at low water, a little before dusk, the tide suddenly rushed in, in the
space of a few minutes, to the height of from five to seven feet, and
immediately receded with equal rapidity, dragging some small craft from
their moorings and leaving the flats again bare. The whole took place in
about twenty minutes. At Bunker's Island and the Cove, the water rose ten
feet.


JL



On Mon, Mar 1, 2010 at 3:39 PM, Baker, John <JMB at stradley.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Baker, John" <JMB at STRADLEY.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Antedating of "Tsunami" (UNCLASSIFIED)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>        While far from an antedating, the following passage, from
> Science, vol. 75, p. 314 (Mar. 18, 1932), shows that "tsunami" was not
> yet firmly established in scientific circles by that time:
>
>
> The report of the Section of Oceanography . . .
> also mentions the formation of an international
> committee to study the so-called (and miscalled) tidal
> waves (in French "raz de maree)." Presumably these
> "tidal waves" are solitary waves or small groups of
> waves caused by submarine earthquakes. Some less
> misleading term than "tidal wave" is needed and the
> noncommittal Japanese word _tsunami_ has been suggested
> but has so far found no general acceptance.
> (This comment on nomenclature is the reviewer's, not
> the report's).
>
>
>
> John Baker
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org