4 ms·

Actually, the first character in typhoon is 「台」, which means something like "stand" or "platform". It's also the first character in "Taiwan". I've read before

by angus77 16y ago

Actually, the first character in typhoon is 「台」, which means something like "stand" or "platform". It's also the first character in "Taiwan". I've read before that the word "typhoon" was of Arabic origin and came to Japan from Chinese, but the word spread to the West via Japan.

Umofomia 16y ago
The original traditional Chinese character is 颱; the Japanese adopted the character 台 as a simplification of the original character (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinjitai http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinjitai). Therefore, the "stand" or "platform" meanings of the 台 character are unrelated to that of 颱.
- angus77 16y ago
  If you follow the link to 颱 from the wikipedia page to the wiktionary entry, you'll find that: a) 台 is the simplified version of 颱 in modern Chinese b) there is nothing in the entry that suggests it means "great" or "big", and that, in fact, the one character translates as "typhoon" Also, if you check out the Japanese wikipedia page for 台風, you'll find that the Japanese spelled it 颱風 up until 1956. There's also a rational for the 台風 spelling suggesting that it may have meant that typhoons were great winds that came from the direction of Taiwan, which is why the 台　character was used (although none of the suggested etymologies are yet proven).
  - Umofomia 16y ago
    I only disputed that 颱 was related to the meanings of "stand" or "platform". As for the meanings of "great" or "big", the OED and etymonline entries actually refer to a different character, 大, from the Cantonese pronunciation of 大風 (IPA: taːifʊŋ). The Japanese and Chinese etymology of 颱風 is as convoluted as the English one that _delirium mentions above in a previous comment. It may have originated as a Western borrowing, be related to Taiwan as you have suggested, or be related to Cantonese 大風; it may have perhaps even been influenced by multiple sources.
    - angus77 16y ago
      Well, to be fair, I was only disputing the assertion that the first character in "taihuu" meant "big" (I'm assuming the author of the post assumed it was 「大」, a natural assumption to make). Giving a translation of the character at all was a side point. It's not like I said that "taihuu" meant "platform wind" or anything, only that the character in question meant something other than "big". Further, you asserted that 「台」 was adopted into Japanese as a simplification of 「颱」, which I've shown to be false (it was adopted into Japanese as-is and wasn't simplified until 1956, and was also simplified in the same way in Chinese), yet people continue to upvote your incorrect assertion and downvote mine. Not that I hold that against you; you seem reasonable enough. But it does make me wonder what people's motivations would be.

by angus77 16y ago

Umofomia 16y ago

The original traditional Chinese character is 颱; the Japanese adopted the character 台 as a simplification of the original character (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinjitai http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinjitai). Therefore, the "stand" or "platform" meanings of the 台 character are unrelated to that of 颱.

angus77 16y ago
If you follow the link to 颱 from the wikipedia page to the wiktionary entry, you'll find that: a) 台 is the simplified version of 颱 in modern Chinese b) there is nothing in the entry that suggests it means "great" or "big", and that, in fact, the one character translates as "typhoon" Also, if you check out the Japanese wikipedia page for 台風, you'll find that the Japanese spelled it 颱風 up until 1956. There's also a rational for the 台風 spelling suggesting that it may have meant that typhoons were great winds that came from the direction of Taiwan, which is why the 台　character was used (although none of the suggested etymologies are yet proven).
- Umofomia 16y ago
  I only disputed that 颱 was related to the meanings of "stand" or "platform". As for the meanings of "great" or "big", the OED and etymonline entries actually refer to a different character, 大, from the Cantonese pronunciation of 大風 (IPA: taːifʊŋ). The Japanese and Chinese etymology of 颱風 is as convoluted as the English one that _delirium mentions above in a previous comment. It may have originated as a Western borrowing, be related to Taiwan as you have suggested, or be related to Cantonese 大風; it may have perhaps even been influenced by multiple sources.
  - angus77 16y ago
    Well, to be fair, I was only disputing the assertion that the first character in "taihuu" meant "big" (I'm assuming the author of the post assumed it was 「大」, a natural assumption to make). Giving a translation of the character at all was a side point. It's not like I said that "taihuu" meant "platform wind" or anything, only that the character in question meant something other than "big". Further, you asserted that 「台」 was adopted into Japanese as a simplification of 「颱」, which I've shown to be false (it was adopted into Japanese as-is and wasn't simplified until 1956, and was also simplified in the same way in Chinese), yet people continue to upvote your incorrect assertion and downvote mine. Not that I hold that against you; you seem reasonable enough. But it does make me wonder what people's motivations would be.