Undisturbed amid what we know of turmoil
A look at turmoil, turbulence, and tumult and other words for 鈥榯rouble鈥�: Do they share common roots 鈥� or just closely related meanings?
Bob Lutz unveils the world's first full-size electric pick-up truck by VIA Motors.
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It is the best of times, and it is the worst of times, as Dickens would have agreed, had he been following the same news feed as the rest of us. Here in New England we鈥檝e been enjoying a glorious summer that promises to go into extra innings, perhaps as a kind of war reparations from the weather gods after this past winter.
But we鈥檙e also following fires and floods out West as well as the worst refugee crisis in Europe since World War II, plus the wars and terrorism that are turning people into refugees in the first place.聽
Is it any wonder I鈥檝e wanted to learn more about the word turmoil?
Scholars, alas, are uncertain about its derivation. But its meaning is clear: 鈥淎 state of confusion or disorder,鈥� to cite . And turmoil shows up as part of the definition for a gaggle of 鈥渢鈥� words related in meaning, even if not in etymology.
Puzzling over these has reminded me of two young ladies, evidently from Australia, whom I had an opportunity to study in a slow-moving passport line during my late-summer travels: Are they actually sisters, or do they just spend so much time together that they dress alike and move alike and perhaps, to infer from the steady forward gaze they both seemed to maintain, even think alike?
Back to etymology. There鈥檚 turbulent, a go-to adjective for the stock market of late, rooted in a Latin word turba, meaning crowd or turmoil. There鈥檚 an idea of 鈥渟pinning鈥� in there, too, as of a top. Turbulence has meant 鈥渁tmospheric eddies that affect airplanes,鈥� as the explains, since 1918.
The same root shows up in , 鈥渕uddy, full of confusion.鈥� is another word in this group. Dis often means 鈥渘ot,鈥� as in dishonest. But it can also serve as an intensifier, 鈥渦tterly鈥� or 鈥渃ompletely.鈥� To be 鈥渄isturbed鈥� is, etymologically, to be utterly confused by a tumultuous crowd.
Ah, tumultuous 鈥� another 鈥渢鈥� word. The traces this adjective to a Latin equivalent meaning 鈥渇ull of bustle or confusion, disorderly, turbulent.鈥� And if turbulence is rooted in notions of 鈥渟pinning鈥� and 鈥渃onfusion,鈥� tumultuous is rooted in the idea of 鈥渟welling.鈥�
Turmoil itself? The Oxford English Dictionary cites a theory that it鈥檚 a borrowing from the Old French tremouille, a mill hopper.聽
The notes that the French word is thought to derive from the Latin trimodia, an adjective signifying a capacity of three measures.聽
The measure of capacity, it seems, became the name of the thing, as when people sometimes refer to a light-duty as 鈥渁 half-ton.鈥� The term indicates payload, not vehicle weight.
The shape of the 鈥� narrower at the bottom 鈥� means that the grains fed in jump or 鈥渉op鈥� around, jostling for position.聽
Please excuse the anthropomorphism. But if the mill-hopper theory is correct, this is what creates 鈥渢urmoil.鈥�