Cyclone — From Greek (coined) to English | etymologist.ai
cyclone
/ˈsaɪkloʊn/·noun·1848·Established
Origin
'Cyclone' wascoined in 1848 from Greek 'kyklos' (circle) — named for the storm's spin.
Definition
A large-scale atmospheric system of winds rotating inward to an area of low pressure, typically bringing storms; especially a tropical storm in the Indian Ocean or southwestern Pacific.
The Full Story
Greek (coined)1848well-attested
Coined in 1848 by Henry Piddington, president of the Marine Courts of Calcutta and a pioneer meteorologist, in his book 'The Sailor's Horn-Book for the Law of Storms.' Piddington formed the word from Greek 'kýklos' (κύκλος, a circle, a wheel, a ring), from PIE *kʷel- (to turn, to revolve, to move in a circle). He chose the name to capture the defining feature
Did you know?
The PIE root *kʷel- (to turn) produced an astonishing range of English words: 'wheel' (the thing that turns), 'cycle' and 'cyclone' (from Greek 'kýklos'), 'culture' and 'colony' (from Latin 'colere,' to till — turning the soil), 'chakra' (Sanskrit, a spinning energy center), and 'pole' (the point around which things turn). Even 'palindrome' contains it throughGreek 'pálin' (again, back — turning back).
Greek source. The meteorological term spread rapidly into maritime and scientific use and was later applied to tornado-like storms in America. The root *kʷel- is among the most widespread in the Indo-European world, appearing also in Sanskrit 'cakra' (wheel, the wheel of time), Welsh 'cylch' (circle), and Latin 'rota' (wheel) through a parallel form. Key roots: *kʷel- (Proto-Indo-European: "to turn, to revolve").