來自希臘語 typhon,旋風，可能來自 typhein,冒煙，詞源同 typhus,或來自 PIE*dheub,深的，地 底的，詞源同 deep.后用于指熱帶風暴臺風最早見于 16 世紀在南亞和東亞附近開拓殖民地的 葡萄牙人的描述，據說是來自阿拉伯語 tufan,怒吼的風，旋轉的風暴，可能為擬聲詞，也有 說法是該阿拉伯詞原為借自希臘語 typhon,旋風。但同時，詞義和拼寫又同時受到漢語臺風 的影響。令人抓狂的是，漢語臺風在詞源上同樣說不清楚，較常見的說法有來自廣東話大風 變音，或因從臺灣海峽進入大陸，簡稱臺風，還有一種說法就是荷蘭人占領臺灣后，借用自 希臘語 typhon,旋風，最后普通話翻譯為臺風。更多參照百度百科。
concerning which Touffon ye are to vnderstand, that in the East Indies often times, there are not stormes as in other countreys; but euery 10. or 12. yeeres there are such tempests and stormes, that it is a thing incredible, but to those that haue seene it, neither do they know certainly what yeere they wil come. ["The voyage and trauell of M. Caesar Fredericke, Marchant of Venice, into the East India, and beyond the Indies"]This sense of the word, in reference to titanic storms in the East Indies, first appears in Europe in Portuguese in the mid-16th century. It aparently is from tufan, a word in Arabic, Persian, and Hindi meaning "big cyclonic storm." Yule ["Hobson-Jobson," London, 1903] writes that "the probability is that Vasco [da Gama] and his followers got the tufao ... direct from the Arab pilots."
From the thighs downward he was nothing but coiled serpents, and his arms which, when he spread them out, reached a hundred leagues in either direction, had countless serpents' heads instead of hands. His brutish ass-head touched the stars, his vast wings darkened the sun, fire flashed from his eyes, and flaming rocks hurtled from his mouth. [Robert Graves, "Typhon," in "The Greek Myths"]
來自《簡明英漢詞典》
來自《簡明英漢詞典》
來自《簡明英漢詞典》
來自《簡明英漢詞典》
來自《現代漢英綜合大詞典》