Etymology
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The etymology of typhoon is either Chinese or Persian-Hindustani origin.
Typhoon may trace to 風癡 (meaning "winds which long last"), first attested in 1124 in China. It was pronounced as [hɔŋ tsʰi] in Min Chinese at the time, but later evolved to [hɔŋ tʰai]. New characters 風颱 were created to match the sound, no later than 1566.[8][9] The word was introduced to Mandarin Chinese in the inverted Mandarin order 颱風 [tʰaɪ fɤŋ], later picked up by foreign sailors to appear as typhoon.[8] The usage of 颱風 was not dominant until Chu Coching, the head of meteorology of the national academy from 1929 to 1936, declared it to be the standard term.[10][11] There were 29 alternative terms for typhoon recorded in a chronicle in 1762, now mostly replaced by 颱風,[12] although 風癡 or 風颱 continues to be used in Min Chinese- and Wu Chinese- speaking areas from Chaozhou, Guangdong to Taizhou, Zhejiang.[8]
Some English linguists proposed the English word typhoon traced to the Cantonese pronunciation of 颱風 [tʰɔi fuŋ] (correspond to Mandarin [tʰaɪ fɤŋ]), in turn the Cantonese word traced to Arabic.[13] This claim contradicts the fact that the Cantonese term for typhoon was 風舊 [fuŋ kɐu] before the national promotion of 颱風.[8] 風舊 (meaning "winds which long last") was first attested in 280, being the oldest Chinese term for typhoon.[9] Not one Chinese historical record links 颱風 to an Arabic or foreign origin.[10][11] On the other hand, Chinese records consistently assert foreigners refer typhoon as "black wind".[10][11] "Black wind" eventually enters the vocabulary of Jin Chinese as 黑老風 [xəʔ lo fəŋ].[14]
Alternatively, some dictionaries propose that typhoon derived from (طوفان) tūfān, meaning storm in Persian and Hindustani.[15][16] The root of (طوفان) tūfān possibly traces to the Ancient Greek mythological creature Typhôn.[16] In French typhon was attested as storm in 1504.[17] Portuguese traveler Fernão Mendes Pinto referred to a tufão in his memoir published in 1614.[18] The earliest form in English was "touffon" (1588),[16] later as touffon, tuffon, tufon, tuffin, tuffoon, tayfun, tiffoon, typhawn.[10][11]
