Turmoil & ?
Today I read yet another NY Times article on the turmoil in the Mideast. I knew that "turmoil" means "profound confusion" and "chaos." Then suddenly I found myself wondering: "What's the word's etymology?"
Given my habit of guessing whether or not a word is a doublet, I took a long hard look at "turmoil." I thought perhaps it shared its origin with "turbulent," whose definition-- "disorderly, tumultuous, runruly"--isn't that far from the sense of "turmoil."
Another possibiity would be "turbid," which includes the notion of something being "stirred up."
Unfortunately, The American Heritage Dictionary (Fourth Edition) took the position that the etymology of "turmoil" is "unknown." Etymonline.com uses "perhaps" in its speculative etymology, which suggests that the word might be an anglicized version of the French "tremouille" meaning "mill hopper," a device that is in constant motion in a mill. This etymology might be valid, but that word "perhaps" doesn't make me confident.
Too bad because "turbid" traces back tothe Latin "turbidus," which is the source of "trouble" and "turbulence." (The"ur" sound--found in "turbid" became the "ru" sound in "trouble" by metathesis, the reversal of letters and sounds. The "o" in "trouble" may mask the connection, but no need to start a rant about English spelling not matching English pronunciation.)
What matters here is that we can't etymologically link "turmoil" to "turbulence" or "trouble." Sometimes etymology disappoints.
Given my habit of guessing whether or not a word is a doublet, I took a long hard look at "turmoil." I thought perhaps it shared its origin with "turbulent," whose definition-- "disorderly, tumultuous, runruly"--isn't that far from the sense of "turmoil."
Another possibiity would be "turbid," which includes the notion of something being "stirred up."
Unfortunately, The American Heritage Dictionary (Fourth Edition) took the position that the etymology of "turmoil" is "unknown." Etymonline.com uses "perhaps" in its speculative etymology, which suggests that the word might be an anglicized version of the French "tremouille" meaning "mill hopper," a device that is in constant motion in a mill. This etymology might be valid, but that word "perhaps" doesn't make me confident.
Too bad because "turbid" traces back tothe Latin "turbidus," which is the source of "trouble" and "turbulence." (The"ur" sound--found in "turbid" became the "ru" sound in "trouble" by metathesis, the reversal of letters and sounds. The "o" in "trouble" may mask the connection, but no need to start a rant about English spelling not matching English pronunciation.)
What matters here is that we can't etymologically link "turmoil" to "turbulence" or "trouble." Sometimes etymology disappoints.
Labels: trouble, turbid.turbulence, turmoil
posted by Murray Suid at 2:44 PM
2 Comments:
I think your right, it has to do with turbulence, or turbulent, but take the last part of the word literally, it would mean
turbulet-oil and be very discriptive of our times :P
I heard the word this morning for the first time and was wondering if its an anglicised german word deriveing from "Turmöl" which means "tower oil". Since in the medieval boiling oil was poured over intruders of castles from the towers, this could be the explanation - possibly a very amateurish, but a nice one.
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