maelstrom

See also: maelström and maëlstrom

English

Alternative forms

• maelström

Etymology

From obsolete Dutch maelstrom (modern Dutch maalstroom), from malen (“to whirl, grind”) (from Proto-Germanic *malaną) and stroom (“stream”). Compare German Mahlstrom, Danish malstrøm, both equally borrowed from Dutch.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmeɪlstɹəm/

Noun

maelstrom (plural maelstroms)

1. A large and violent whirlpool.
   • 2001 — Eoin Colfer, Artemis Fowl, p 212

     A hulking shape burst through the doorway and hurtled down the corridor, leaving a maelstrom of air currents in his wake.

2. (figuratively) Any violent or turbulent situation.
   • 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 80:

     The terminal station, Richmond, is managed by South West Trains, heirs to the London & South Western Railway, and here the District fades into a railway maelstrom, since Richmond is not only on the Waterloo-Reading line but is also the westerly terminus of the London Overground.

   • 2019 May 5, Danette Chavez, “Campaigns are waged on and off the Game Of Thrones battlefield (newbies)”, in The A.V. Club‎^[1]:

     Setting our sights back on King’s Landing, where the Last War will be waged, makes a lot of sense, even if it does feel a bit anticlimactic after last week’s deadly, blustery maelstrom.

Translations

large whirlpool

• Afrikaans: maalstroom (af)
• Catalan: voràgine (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 漩渦 (zh), 漩涡 (zh) (xuánwō)

• Danish: malstrøm
• Dutch: maalstroom (nl), moskstraumen, moskenstraumen
• Esperanto: akvokirlo, akvoturno
• Faroese: meldur, meldurstreymur, malustreymur
• Finnish: kurimus, akanvirta (fi)
• French: tourbillon (fr) m, maëlstrom (fr) m
• German: Mahlstrom (de) m
• Italian: maelstrom (it) m, vortice (it) m, voragine (it) f

• Japanese: 狂瀾怒涛 (kyōrandotō)
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: malstrøm (no) m

  Nynorsk: malstraum m

• Portuguese: voragem (pt)
• Russian: водоворо́т (ru) m (vodovorót)
• Serbo-Croatian: vir (sh) m, vrtlog (sh) m, kovitlac (sh) m
• Slovak: vír m
• Spanish: vorágine (es)
• Swedish: malström (sv)
• Tagalog: alimpuyo (tl)

any violent or turbulent situation

• Afrikaans: maalstroom (af)
• Catalan: voràgine (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Dutch: maalstroom (nl)
• Finnish: kurimus
• Japanese: 狂瀾怒涛 (kyōrandotō)

• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian: malstrøm (no), mælstrøm, malstraum
• Portuguese: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: водоворо́т (ru) m (vodovorót), вихрь (ru) m (vixrʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: vrtlog (sh) m, kovitlac (sh) m
• Spanish: vorágine (es)
• Swedish: malström (sv) c

See also

• Maelstrom on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Moskstraumen on the Dutch Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^nl