# Was there another word for "tsunami", in English and other languages, before 2004 **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 18, 2013, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-another-word-for-tsunami-in-english-and-other-languages-before-2004/666578 "2013-08-18T18:02:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-another-word-for-tsunami-in-english-and-other-languages-before-2004/666578/61 "2013-08-19T13:28:25Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Japan, Japón or Cipango aren’t distortions of Nippon (they’re distortions of a _Chinese_ name for Japan); Germany or Alemania aren’t distortions of Deutschland (they’re derived from the words people other than the Germans called that area). I don’t dispute what you are saying, but earlier you drew a distinction between “using foreign words to refer to foreign places” and “keeping the foreign pronunciation of words that the speaker knows to be foreign in origin.” From what you are saying, it’s pretty clearly that the word “Japan” is foreign in origin. > [@](#): > > When come back bring philology. I checked on [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com) and it says that “Jerusalem” is originally from Hebrew. So why not pronounce it “Yerushalayim”? Similarly, it seems that “Paris” comes from French. So why don’t English speakers say “pah-ree”? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-another-word-for-tsunami-in-english-and-other-languages-before-2004/666578/62 "2013-08-19T13:46:19Z")
But do you understand that distinction or not? ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-another-word-for-tsunami-in-english-and-other-languages-before-2004/666578/63 "2013-08-19T14:01:31Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > But do you understand that distinction or not? No, it doesn’t make much sense. Probably it would help if you provided some examples and explained how “yeh-roo-sha-la-yim” and “pah-ree” fit in. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-another-word-for-tsunami-in-english-and-other-languages-before-2004/666578/64 "2013-08-19T14:50:40Z")
> [@obfusciatrist](#): > > Just because, the [ngram for tidal wave vs. tsunami](http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=tsunami%2Ctidal+wave&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=). Interesting. > [@obfusciatrist](#): > > But I’d be curious if there was something specific that causes the surge by tsunami in the late '70s. Here’s a wild guess: James Clavell’s _[Shogun](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sh%C5%8Dgun_%28novel%29)_ was published in 1975 and became a huge besteller in the US. Could that have contributed the word to general usage? I have used tsunami for a long time; I don’t recall if the word was in the book, but the book had a big impact on me at the time, and I certainly could have gotten the word from the book. ---
**Author:** ![grama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@grama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grama)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-another-word-for-tsunami-in-english-and-other-languages-before-2004/666578/65 "2013-08-19T15:24:10Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > I’ve always heard them called tsunamis. RAE defines tsunami as “a giant wave produced by a seaquake or an eruption at the bottom of the sea” without providing any alternate expressions, which leads me to believe that the term tsunami is what’s been used in Spanish for a long time. What about maremoto?, I know the RAE gives different definitions, (and tsunami being the product,of a maremoto). But here they’ve been used as synonims since I can remember. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-another-word-for-tsunami-in-english-and-other-languages-before-2004/666578/66 "2013-08-19T15:49:44Z")
What I learned, back in the 60’s and 70’s - “Tidal Wave” referred to those giant waves caused typically by earthquakes. The typical example quoted was the waves generated (IIRC) by the big Alaska earthquake of the time, but somewhere there is old newsreel footage of a 15-foot wave crashing through the palm trees and into a bunch of huts (Hawaii?). Interestingly, this is fostering the misconception that a tsunami is a vertical wave, when as seen after “the big one”, it is more often a smooth slosh that just keeps coming. The same discussion at school typically said as mentioned above, that “tidal wave” is a misleading name, and the closest to an accurate name was the Japanese word tsunami, which typically and more accurately means an earthquake-generated wave. OTOH, I have never heard of a tidal bore (like Bay of Fundy) referred to as a tidal “wave”, either. Tidal Wave meant Tsunami, it just could be misleading. it seems like during the big wave of 2006 there was a determined effort by the media and scientists to use the word “tsunami” rather than “tidal wave” thus reinforcing the correct terminology. ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-another-word-for-tsunami-in-english-and-other-languages-before-2004/666578/67 "2013-08-19T15:50:25Z")
By the way, here is a snippet of dialogue from 1978 “Return to Gilligan’s Island” * * * Professor: There’s a major storm heading for the Island. Maryanne: But we get a lot of storms, Professor. Professor: Ahh, but this storm’s magnitude has created a tsunami. Gilligan: Tsunami! Oh, no, a tsunami! . . What’s a tsunami? Skipper: Gilligan, that’s an Islander word for a tremendous tidal wave!! Professor: A wave that will cover this Island and sweep us all into the sea. Ginger: That’s what I call a real permanent wave. Lovey Howell: You mean we’ll all die? Thurston Howell: The upper class too? Professor: Actually this tidal wave may be our way off the Island and back to civilization. * * * ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-another-word-for-tsunami-in-english-and-other-languages-before-2004/666578/68 "2013-08-19T17:15:46Z")
“Tidal Wave” was the name of a roller coaster at the Great America amusement park in Gurnee, Illinois outside Chicago. So when our science teachers told us that tsunami was the proper name for what was commonly known as a “tidal wave”, we daydreamed about being at Great America. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-another-word-for-tsunami-in-english-and-other-languages-before-2004/666578/69 "2013-08-19T18:02:41Z")
> [@jovan](#): > > Funnily “maremoto” could very well be a Japanese surname. (Stupid Mexican joke: how do you say “he goes for a ride” in Japanese? _Sakasumoto_.) I’m sure there are some Japanese who would raise an eyebrow at “carne asada” - > **[Asada (surname)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asada_(surname))** > > Asada (written: 浅田 or 麻田) is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: 😛 ---
**Author:** ![grama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@grama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grama)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-another-word-for-tsunami-in-english-and-other-languages-before-2004/666578/70 "2013-08-19T20:12:55Z")
Nevermind my last post, I see it was already discussed earlier in the thread. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-another-word-for-tsunami-in-english-and-other-languages-before-2004/666578/71 "2013-08-19T21:00:03Z")
I did a report for school on tsunamis, how they are formed, etc. in 1977. The term seemed pretty standard back then for that particular type of wave. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2013, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-another-word-for-tsunami-in-english-and-other-languages-before-2004/666578/72 "2013-08-20T02:08:58Z")
I don’t think I’d ever seen or heard the term “harbor wave” until this thread. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-another-word-for-tsunami-in-english-and-other-languages-before-2004/666578.md?page=3)