Typhoon

A Typhoon is a tropical cyclone, that develops in the northwestern Pacific Basin.

Term

The origin of this word is not sure. There are two theories. Etymologically derived from the ancient Greek hurricane vortex. The Latin was typhonas and means "great wind". Later, the Arabs turned the word tufan when they crossed the Muslim world to Malaysia, which was taken by Portuguese explorers and converted to tufão in the modern sense. The Dutch used a similar word, taifoen.

According to another theory the word of the Chinese 台风 is the source (pronounced Tai fungkai means "big wind") and the Venetian merchants brought Kaiser Friedrich after a trip to China. (Translated from the French Wiktionary).

References

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