Why is a typhoon called a typhoon, and where did this name come from?
A typhoon is a type of natural disaster, referring to a tropical cyclone that forms over vast expanses of ocean at temperatures above 26°C in the tropics or subtropics. The severity and frequency of the disasters it causes have attracted worldwide attention. When a typhoon and tropical storm strike, they are often accompanied by violent winds, torrential rain, huge waves and storm surges, and can sometimes even trigger tsunamis. Let us take a look below at why a typhoon is called a typhoon!
Why is a typhoon called a typhoon?
1. The sound-shift theory: The sound-shift theory includes three explanations. First, it evolved from the Cantonese "daai fung" (big wind); second, it evolved from the Hokkien "hong tai" (wind platform); third, it was named by the Dutch during their occupation of Taiwan, China, after the character Typhon in the Greek epic "Theogony."
2. The source-place theory: Taiwan, China is located at the crossroads of the northward paths of most typhoons from the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea. Many typhoons pass through the Taiwan Strait before entering the mainland, so they are called taifeng (typhoon). Therefore, "typhoon" is a transliterated word: in English, typhoon was transliterated from the Cantonese pronunciation toifong, and then entered the Mandarin vocabulary.
What benefits do typhoons bring?
1. Typhoons bring people abundant fresh water. Typhoons bring large amounts of rain to the coastal areas of China, the coast of the Sea of Japan, India, Southeast Asia and the southeastern United States.
2. The tropical and subtropical regions near the equator receive the longest hours of sunshine and are unbearably hot and dry. If typhoons did not come to disperse the heat from these regions, they would become even hotter, and the desertification of the land surface would become even more severe. At the same time, the frigid zones would become even colder, and the temperate zones would disappear. Our country would have no spring city like Kunming, no Guangzhou with its evergreen four seasons, and the "Great Northern Granary" and the grasslands of Inner Mongolia would cease to exist.
3. A typhoon's maximum speed can reach over 200 kilometers per hour, destroying everything in its path. This enormous energy can directly bring disasters to humanity, but it is also entirely thanks to this enormous flow of energy that the Earth maintains its heat balance, allowing humanity to live and work in peace and multiply endlessly.
4. Typhoons can also increase fishing yields. Whenever a typhoon strikes, it churns up rivers and seas, rolling the nutrients from the bottom of rivers and seas up to the surface. Fish bait increases, attracting schools of fish to gather near the surface, and the catch naturally rises.
What harm do typhoons cause?
1. The strong wind weather brought by typhoons is one of the main hazards of typhoons, especially the powerful winds near the typhoon's center. The following passage will give us a vivid idea of the harm caused by strong winds: at level six it is hard to walk while holding an umbrella, at level seven it is inconvenient to walk against the wind, at level eight the wind breaks tree branches, at level nine roof tiles fly off, at level ten trees are uprooted. Falling objects from high altitudes, collapse of dilapidated buildings and so on are all accidents that easily occur on typhoon days.
2. When a typhoon affects an area, it is mostly accompanied by torrential rain, or even heavy torrential rain or extraordinary torrential rain. Torrential rain easily triggers floods, causing villages, houses, boats, bridges and amusement facilities to be submerged or even washed away, resulting in loss of life and property. Torrential rain may cause water conservancy projects to fail, creating serious dangers. Torrential rain may also trigger geological disasters such as landslides and mudslides, causing casualties.
3. Storm surges easily wash away sea dikes and embankments, culvert gates, wharves, revetments and other facilities. They can cause sea dikes to breach and seawater to flow backward, and may even directly sweep away nearby people, causing casualties.
4. When a typhoon passes through, it often brings violent wind and rain, causing huge waves on the sea surface and seriously threatening navigation safety. The storm surge brought after a typhoon makes landfall may destroy crops and various buildings and facilities, causing enormous losses to people's lives and property.