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Maelstrom

//ˈmeɪlˌstɹəm// noun

Definitions

Noun

1
A large and violent whirlpool.
"To his right fell a gleaming sheet of water, and below it was a maelstrom, that made one giddy by its terrific gyrations."
2
a powerful circular current of water (usually the result of conflicting tides) wordnet
3
A chaotic or turbulent situation. figuratively
"It was of Jean Paul's doing: some single billow in that vast World-Mahlstrom of Humour, with its heaven-kissing coruscations, which is now, alas, all congealed in the frost of death!"

Etymology

The word was originally the name of a giant whirlpool off Norway in the Arctic Ocean which was said to destroy all ships that came close to it, likely the actual tidal pool system of Moskstraumen in Lofoten. It is borrowed from early modern Dutch maelstrom (“whirlpool”) (obsolete) (modern Dutch maalstroom), from malen (“to whirl around; to grind”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- (“to crush, grind”)) + stroom (“stream; river; current or flow of water or other liquid”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *srew- (“to flow, stream”)), and was popularized by Edgar Allen Poe’s short story A Descent into the Maelström (1841). Cognates * Danish malstrøm * German Mahlstrom * Swedish malström

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