Temblors & Tremblers
While reading a local
newspaper, Vic from Suttons Bay came across an article about the recent earthquake
in Mexico. What caught his eye was the following sentence: “The U.S. Geological Survey said the new,
magnitude 6.1 temblor was centered about 11 miles south-southwest of Matias
Romero in the state of Oaxaca.” What caught his eye was the word temblor. “Shouldn’t
that be trembler, or maybe tremblor, as in a whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on?”
We appreciate the
musical reference, Vic, but temblor is the correct spelling. The word was
heisted from the Spanish spoken in the southwestern United States. It
translates as earthquake.
There’s no question that
the earth trembles during an earthquake and that tremors are felt by people in the quake area,
but those words are not used in the scientific sense. The word tremulous
(shaking with fear) can also be referenced. All three of those words owe their
existence to the Latin verb tremere,
to tremble, shake, and quake.
Our word quake seems to
track back to an Old English word that meant chattering teeth.
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