Synonym for tsunami
I'm looking for an equivalent term in English for tsunami. How did people name/describe the phenomenon prior to 1868 -the first time the word was recorded in English according to Etymonline bearing in mind (as stated in the same site) that the word tidal is not a correct synonym?
It was, and sometimes still is, called a tidal wave, even though it has nothing to do with tides.
Tsunami: (it is a unique term in its meaning of big wave caused by a catastrophic event as shown below), the common terms used were tidal wave and seismic sea waves.
Tsunami is a Japanese word with the English translation, "harbor wave." Represented by two characters, the top character, "tsu," means harbor, while the bottom character, "nami," means "wave." In the past, tsunamis were sometimes referred to as "tidal waves" by the general public, and as "seismic sea waves" by the scientific community.
The term "tidal wave" is a misnomer; although a tsunami's impact upon a coastline is dependent upon the tidal level at the time a tsunami strikes, tsunamis are unrelated to the tides. Tides result from the imbalanced, extraterrestrial, gravitational influences of the moon, sun, and planets. The term "seismic sea wave" is also misleading. "Seismic" implies an earthquake-related generation mechanism, but a tsunami can also be caused by a nonseismic event, such as a landslide or meteorite impact.
(earthweb.ess.washington.edu)
As above - traditionally, until comparatively recently, a 'tsunami' would have been called a 'tidal wave' in English, dedpite the fact that this term is misleading. The Boxing Day tsunami that devastated SE Asia seemed to be something of a turning point - I can remember TV and radio news in England announcing the catastrophe, and, in some instamces, actually explaining as part of their report that this was a tsunami, and WHY they were using that term instead of 'tidal wave', so although the word may have been recorded in English as far back as 1868, many English speakers were still not using it in daily discourse right up until that point.
"Tidal wave".
This is in fact a much better term for such waves, as they involve a large dropping of the water-level followed by the wave coming in at a much higher than usual water-level, as if a tidal change had happened.
Still, the fact that they have nothing to do with the mechanism behind tides led to tsunami became more popular despite their having nothing to do with harbours.