Tsunami

[peter.gray]

If Tsunami is a Japanese word for tidal wave, why has the west adopted it?  Why don't we just call it a tidal wave? 

[Clanad]

This was addressed in another forum... however, the translation of the Japanese word tsunami, isn't tidal wave, but harbor wave.  The Japanese have experienced destructive ocean surges for centuries and came to recognize that certain wave phenomena were quite different from ordinary tidal waves.  The effects of tsunamis were observed to most destructive as they approached land, especailly in confined areas, such as harbors.  In fact, most tsunamis are not experienced at all on the open seas, but only when they ascend the continental shelf areas...Check here for more information:

http://www.geophys.washington.edu/tsunami/general/physics/physics.html

[Rofl]

also, they realy have nothing to do with tides.

like meteors :P

[brachiopod]

Because it is not caused by tides, so is not a tidal wave.

Since there is no equivalent single word in English, we borrow the Japanese word, since they worked out centuries ago that these 'harbour waves' only occurred after seismic events, (earthquakes being relatively common in Japan).

The shortest possible description in English would be a seismic sea wave, so we use the word tsunami instead.

Seismic wave on its own can not be used as this refers to the compressional, shear, and surface waves that propagate through the solid Earth or along its land surfaces as result of a seismic event.

It does cause a lot of confusion though !! See also;

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Animals_and_Nature/Question89173.html

[incognito]

As the others have said 'because it isn't strictly a tidal wave'

You seem to be questioning the principle of adopting foreign words. Why? We 've done it for centuries, that's how our language has grown to be so rich