VOLCANO MADNESS: [CaliforniaDisasters] For a Term for ‘Earthquake,’ the Ground Has Shifted

Thursday, July 11, 2019

[CaliforniaDisasters] For a Term for ‘Earthquake,’ the Ground Has Shifted

The meaning of 'temblor' keeps changing

In Ridgecrest, Calif., an uncle and nephew examine a highway crack from the second of two strong earthquakes centered in the area on July 4 and July 6. Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press

By Ben Zimmer

July 11, 2019 1:24 pm ET

When Southern California was hit by two large earthquakes last week, media accounts followed a familiar pattern. The Associated Press, for instance, led with the news that "a magnitude 7.1 earthquake jolted much of California." The article then reported that the quake on Friday was "preceded by Thursday's 6.4-magnitude temblor in the Mojave Desert."

Why was one seismic shake called an "earthquake" and another called a "temblor"? It has nothing to do with differing magnitudes on the Richter scale. Instead, it has become a journalistic habit to switch from "earthquake" (or "quake") to "temblor" in the course of a news article.

Check any major dictionary and it will simply define a "temblor" as an "earthquake," so there is no semantic nuance distinguishing the two terms. When they both appear in news reports, it is an example of what Henry Watson Fowler called "elegant variation." Fowler warned in his 1926 book "A Dictionary of Modern English Usage" that such arbitrary substitution of synonyms may "set readers wondering what the significance of the change is, only to conclude disappointedly that it has none."

Even more confusingly, "temblor" sometimes shows up with an extra letter: "tremblor." The Hollywood Reporter, for instance, referred to "the latest tremblor that originated just 11 miles outside of Ridgecrest, Calif." Robin George Andrews, a volcanologist and science journalist, used "tremblor" in two articles for Forbes on the California quakes. When asked about "temblor" versus "tremblor" earlier this year on Twitter, Mr. Andrews responded, "Actually, both are fine!"

"Temblor" came into English from Spanish, where it means "trembling." It goes back to the Latin "tremulus" meaning "shaking," sharing a root with "tremor," "tremulous," and "tremble." Given the shared resemblance of these etymological cousins, it's not surprising that they have influenced each other along the way.

The earliest examples of "temblor" in English are from travelers' accounts of earthquakes in Latin America, such as Alexander Caldcleugh's 1825 travelogue: "No earthquake occurred during my residence in Chile, excepting a temblor, or gentle shake." Writers often distinguished a "temblor" as a mild shock, perhaps following the Latin American usage of temblor de tierra ("shaking of the ground"), something less than a full-blown earthquake or terremoto. Travel writers also pluralized the word in the Spanish manner as "temblores."

"Temblor" became more fully Anglicized when it circulated in earthquake-prone California in the late 19th century. When an entertainer was a no-show for a performance at the San Francisco Opera House in 1868, a writer for the Chronicle quipped, "Spiteful people say he couldn't stand the temblors."

The 1906 San Francisco earthquake gave "temblor" wider public exposure. When three newspapers in the city, the Call, the Chronicle, and the Examiner, joined forces to publish a four-page issue after the quake, the lead story described how San Francisco was "shaken by a temblor at 5:13 o'clock yesterday morning, the shock lasting 48 seconds." The following month, the Call's banner headline read, "Scientists Say Second Big Temblor Need Not Be Feared."

While "temblor" became a journalistic standby after the 1906 quake, "tremblor," influenced by "trembler" and "tremor," crept into usage as well. One newspaper from Hanford, Calif. insisted that "'tremblor' is the proper word to be used." But those aware of the Spanish origins of the term held fast to "temblor." Confusion over the two variants continues to this day, with the editors of the Associated Press Stylebook, in their entry for "earthquakes," taking pains to point out that "the word 'temblor' (not 'tremblor') is a synonym for 'earthquake.'" One solution to the quandary, of course, would be to stick to "earthquake," but it's doubtful that journalists will ever tire of elegant variation.

Source: https://www.wsj.com/articles/for-a-term-for-earthquake-the-ground-has-shifted-11562865872