8 Oct /13

Typhoon

Once again it was a translation which introduced a word into English. In his book The voyage and travel in the East India Cesare Federici writes about his experiences of almost 20 years travelling, particularly in Southern India, Sri Lanka and Burma. It was published in Italian in 1588. One year later the translation was published, quite a feat under any circumstance. The translator, Thomas Hickock was a merchant, not a scholar. While travelling by sea from the Mediterranean to England, he completed the translation in the time he had available. Later versions of his story showed clearly that there was no copyright protection at the time. His work was simply lifted by other travel writers (Hakluyt and Purgas).

Typhoon as a word comes from the Chinese term tai fung (violent wind). Hickock describes travelling in a cruel storm which went on for three days and three nights. What he talks about is a common weather feature that occurs in the Pacific particularly between June and October. Sustained wind speeds of 119 km/h are required for classification as a typhoon.

In the current Typhoon Fitou wind speeds of up to 151 km/h were recorded. Hundreds of thousands of people in China were evacuated and are homeless.

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