【每日一词】maelstrom（大漩涡，战乱）

I checked the New York Times to see how people were using the word “maelstrom.”

我在《纽约时报》进行查询，看人们如何使用maelstrom（大漩涡，战乱）这个词。

To be honest I needed to check the spelling first.

说实话，我得先看看自己有没有拼对词。

    * There was a story on the war in Iraq and the maelstrom in Bagdad;

*有一个关于伊拉克战争和巴格达战乱（maelstrom）的故事；

    * another about a family crises maelstrom; and

*……另一个是关于家庭内乱（maelstrom）的；还有……

    * one on a maelstrom in public education.

*一个则关于公共教育的大论战（maelstrom）。

These match with one of the definitions given in the New Oxford American Dictionary that says the word has a figurative sense of a scene or state of confused and violent movement or upheaval.  According to Urbandictionary maelstrom is also a Kickass band and according to Wikipedia it’s more than one role playing game as well as several pieces of music.

这些用法和《新牛津美语词典》对该词条的其中一个定义相符：maelstrom有比喻义，形容令人困惑的、激烈的运动或动乱场景、状态。根据Urbandictionary，maelstrom还是一支牛X乐队的名字，维基百科上还说，有好几个角色扮演游戏、好几首音乐作品都叫做maelstrom。

But the root of the word, as hinted by the spelling, isn’t English, it seems to be Dutch.

不过它的词根并非英语，而似乎是荷兰语，我们可以从单词的拼法中看出端倪。

And in fact there is a place, not in Holland, where this word—if not comes from—at least is associated with.  On the coast of Norway there is an island called “Moskenisoy” and nearby the combinations of submarine rock formations and tidal currents set up a whirlpool that gurgles and sucks in a rather frightening manner if you happen to be in a boat nearby.   To sailors 500 years ago it was frightening enough that rumour got around.

实际上，这个单词来自于一个地方——并非荷兰。即便不是来自那里，也和那个地点有关。挪威海岸线旁有个小岛，叫做 “Moskenisoy”，附近有海底岩石层，再辅以潮流，于是形成了漩涡，汩汩轰响，吸力巨大，如果你碰巧坐船经过，会颇受惊吓。对于500年前的水手来说，如此恐怖的景象足够让流言四处传播。

Here is what seems to be the first quote in English:

下面这段话似乎是英语里最早的引证：

    There is between the said Rost Islands, and Lofoote, a whirle poole, called Malestrand, which..maketh such a terrible noise, that it shaketh the rings in the doores of the inhabitants houses of the said Islands, ten miles of

“传说在罗斯特岛(Rost)和罗福特岛（Lofoote）之间有一个名为Malestrand的漩涡，它……发出骇人的声响，甚至震动了十英里之外罗斯特岛上民房的门环……”

The story went that this whirlpool could suck any ship down and grind it to splinters.

传说这个大漩涡可以吸入一切船只，把它们碾成碎片。

The Dutch root words for maelstrom are maalen meaning to grind and whirl—which is also related to our word “meal” as in “corn meal”; and stroom  which is a stream or current.

荷兰语里maelstrom的词根maalen意为“磨碎”、“旋转”——和英语中的meal（粗碾的谷物）、玉米粉（corn meal）也有关系，另一个词根stroom则指水流或洋流。

The New Oxford American Dictionary says the word denotes a mythical whirlpool, but I’m thinking that by mythical here they mean it doesn’t really rattle the doorknobs ten miles away or grind all ships to matchsticks.

《新牛津美语词典》写道，这个单词代表一个传说中的漩涡，不过我想，这里“传说中”的意思应该是，那个漩涡并不能撼动十英里之外的门把手，也不能把船只碾成火柴棒。

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