Haboob, part 2
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This word caught my attention on the news this morning. It was said to be a gigantic dust/sandstorm that was passing through the central Arizona area. As soon as I heard the sound of the word, with a probable triliteral Semitic root and the fact that it was some sort of sandstorm, I thought that it was most likely Arabic. And indeed it is.
Borrowed from Arabic هَبُوب (habūb, “strong wind, gale; haboob”), from the root ه ب ب (h b b) (“relating to wind blowing”).
American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition, Semitic roots:
hbb
West Semitic, to move, set out, blow (of wind).
haboob, from Arabic habūb, strong wind, from habba, to move, depart, rush, blow.
Some people complained that it was unpatriotic to use an Arabic word for an American meteorological phenomenon, especially after Operation Desert Storm, the 1991 military campaign by a 33-nation coalition, led by the United States, to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait after Iraq's invasion on August 2, 1990. But the name caught hold, partly, I think, because of the sound and sense of "boob".
"This is why dust storms are called 'haboobs' in Arizona", by Richard Ruelas, Arizona Republic (8/20/18; updated 7/18/23()
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In 1971, a group of scientists witnessed an Arizona dust storm so huge that they proposed calling it a haboob, the term used for the infamous dust storms in Sudan.
Those people were not outsiders; they were Arizona scientists.
Their article, "An American Haboob," was printed in the October 1972 issue of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. It argued that the dust storms in Phoenix were similar to those around Sudan's capital, Khartoum.
"Although much less frequent than the Sudanese haboobs," the article said, "they are equally as dramatic."
The dust storms formed, the article said, through a series of storm cells that intensify as they move from the Santa Cruz Valley into Phoenix. The Arizona weather cells are so close to one another that they "merge in what appears to be a solid wall of dust, reported by aircraft to extend upward to 8,000 feet."
The article was written by Sherwood Idso, Robert Ingram and J.M. Pritchard. Idso was with the U.S. Water Conservation Laboratory in Phoenix. Ingram was the head meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Pritchard's title could not be determined.
The article contained a detailed study of a dust storm on July 16, 1971, saying it displayed "classic haboob characteristics."
Wind speed, a rise in humidity and a drop in air temperature all were in line with what one would expect from a dust storm in Sudan, the article said. The Arizona storm lasted about 48 minutes, and pilots reported the dust cloud reaching 8,000 feet.
"Thus, it would appear from all of the accumulated evidence that the Arizona dust storm of 16 July 1971 was as good an example of a true haboob as those that occur in the Sudan," the article said.
About half of the dust storms that pass through Phoenix qualify as haboobs, the article said, citing data and "the personal knowledge of weather observers who have been stationed here for several years."
But there was another Arabic word that was applied to a conspicuous Arizona weather phenomenon, viz., "monsoon". That was quite unexpected for me because "monsoon" evokes drenching wetness, and I always associate it with South Asian and Southeast Asian weather patterns, plus the word "monsoon" doesn't have an obvious triliteral root (wait a minute, I'll get to that).
"Haboob" was the second Arabic term Robert Ingram introduced to describe Arizona weather. According to Ingram's son, also named Robert, the meteorologist introduced "monsoon" to the state, convincing Channel 12's then-weatherman, Frank Peddie, to incorporate it in forecasts in the 1950s.
Ingram also came up with the then-marker of the Arizona monsoon season's start: three consecutive days with a dew point above 55 degrees. The start of the monsoon has since been changed to June 15, regardless of air conditions.
Although "monsoon" caught on in the 1950s, "haboob" didn't catch on in the 1970s.
Dewey Hopper, who was Channel 12's weatherman from 1973 to 1984, said in an email that he remembers using "haboob" on the air after learning the word from an Arabic friend.
Hopper used "haboob" on the air partly for a giggle. After he said it, his co-anchor, Linda Alvarez, "just about fell off her chair," he wrote.
"I figured if they could call our seasonal storms 'monsoons' — Arabic for seasonal wind," he wrote, "then I could use the Arabic word for dust storm."
If we dig deeper into the etymology of "monsoon", we will find that it does have a triliteral Semitic root and an Arabic cultural basis.
1580s, "alternating trade wind of the Indian Ocean," from Dutch monssoen, from Portuguese monçao, from Arabic mawsim "time of year, appropriate season" (for a voyage, pilgrimage, etc.), from wasama "he marked." The Arabic word, picked up by Portuguese sailors in the Indian Ocean, was used for anything that comes round every year (such as a festival), and was extended to the season of the year when the monsoon blows from the southwest (April through October) and the winds were right for voyages to the East Indies. In India, the summer monsoon is much stronger than the winter and was popularly spoken of emphatically as "the monsoon." It also brings heavy rain, hence the meaning "heavy episode of rainfall during the rainy season" (1747).
American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition, Semitic roots:
wsm
To be(come) fitting, suitable.
I recall that, when I was on expeditions in the Tarim Basin, the hot, fierce winds that blew across the Taklamakan Desert were like sandblasting forces. We had to get down and hide behind our camels until the storm passed. When a buran blows across the steppe or tundra in winter, it is bitterly cold and blizzard-like. "The buran (Persian: بوران, Russian: буран) is a wind which blows across Iran, eastern Asia, specifically Xinjiang, Siberia, and Kazakhstan." (Wikipedia)
From Volga Turki بوران (boran, “blizzard”), Inherited from Proto-Turkic *bora- (“north wind; to snow heavily”); cognate with Crimean Tatar boran, Kazakh боран (boran), Turkish bora and Turkmen boran. Alternatively, it could be a wanderwort related to Italian bora and Greek μπόρα (bóra).
Borrowed from Venetan bora (“north-eastern wind”), from Latin boreas (“north wind”), from Ancient Greek Βορέας (Boréas).[1] Compare Turkish bora (“squall”).
Selected readings
Dave J. said,
August 27, 2025 @ 5:34 pm
There is also “simoom”, which popped into my head when I read the above:
Wiktionary says this:
A hot, dry, suffocating, dust-laden wind of the desert, particularly of Arabia, Syria, and neighboring countries, generated by the extreme heat of the parched deserts or sandy plains.
Michael Carasik said,
August 28, 2025 @ 1:01 am
In Modern Hebrew on the news they say שׁרב -sharav-. But I recall from the old days that they used to call such weather חמסין -hamsin-, supposedly the Arabic equivalent of חמישים 'fifty' because there were 50 such days every year. But perhaps that was a folk etymology, since I'm seeing MSN in that word as well.
sam said,
August 28, 2025 @ 2:39 am
Why did the Portuguese make the first syllable nasal? Assimilation/harmony from the second syllable? Just random corruption that happens sometimes with loaning?
Victor Mair said,
August 28, 2025 @ 4:01 am
From a former Penn student who is now at Arizona State University:
We did have a big dust storm here yesterday. It caused a lot of traffic, but luckily I was home when it happened. I also saw your Language Log post. Is this similar to how we now use the Japanese word tsunami instead of tidal wave? Since tidal waves are so common in Japan, the Japanese word spread globally. In the same way, haboob comes from Sudan, where sandstorms happen frequently. But unlike tsunami, haboob is not very widely known, so many people here are still unfamiliar with it.
Peter Cyrus said,
August 28, 2025 @ 4:42 am
@sam: I believe the initial m is a prefix, inflexional or derivational. I hope someone else here knows more.
Benjamin E. Orsatti said,
August 28, 2025 @ 7:04 am
I'm not going to bed today without telling _someone_ that he or she is displaying "classic haboob characteristics".
Rodger C said,
August 28, 2025 @ 9:36 am
Peter Cyrus: I think sam meant the n at the end of the syllable.
KeithB said,
August 28, 2025 @ 1:51 pm
The reason to prefer "tsunami" over "tidal wave" is much the same reason to prefer "sea jelly" to "jellyfish".
Tsunami's have nothing to do with tides.
Sea Jellies' are not fish.
Chas Belov said,
August 28, 2025 @ 3:32 pm
@KeithB I prefer "tsunami" and "jellyfish." Actually, I never heard the term "sea jelly" and, now that it was a separate word, would object on the basis that it's not jelly.
Chas Belov said,
August 28, 2025 @ 3:36 pm
Actually, I would argue that even though it's not a fish, it's a lot closer to being a fish than it is to being jelly.
CuConnacht said,
August 28, 2025 @ 6:10 pm
As with sea jellies, we are now supposed to say sea star instead of starfish. I am quite sure that nobody ever thought that jellyfish or starfish were actually fish in disguise.
The khamsiin in Egypt is supposed to occur during the 50-day period between Easter and Pentecost. (49 days as we would count.)
Jason Stokes said,
August 29, 2025 @ 12:00 am
So the new meme is, the Arabs have 80 different words for sandstorm?
Andreas Johansson said,
August 29, 2025 @ 2:02 am
"Fish" has, or rather had, a widened sense of "water-dwelling animal" (or at least any motile, animal-like one: probably not including e.g. corals), which is the relevant one in "starfish" etc.
The argument we should call them "sea stars" because they're not fish always annoys me, because while they may not be fish in the strict sense, they're definitely not stars in the strict sense either!
Andreas Johansson said,
August 29, 2025 @ 2:04 am
Closer to the topic, the first time I encountered "khamsin" was in a science fiction book, and the meteorological phenomenon in question took place on Mars (albeit a much more Earth-like version of that planet than the real one).
John Swindle said,
August 29, 2025 @ 5:05 am
@KeithB: Tsunamis have nothing to do with tides but, if they're small at the point of impact, can look like an uncannily rapid rising and falling of the tide, at least in the tidal stream near my home. Confuses the bejesus out of the fish. Based on a single observation.
John Swindle said,
August 29, 2025 @ 5:08 am
"Tidal stream" as in a stream whose lower reaches are affected by ocean tides. I don't know the correct term.
Victor Mair said,
August 29, 2025 @ 8:02 am
Monsoon in Pakistanian Punjab
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqMPUYFpj2I
Martin Schwartz said,
August 29, 2025 @ 11:02 pm
thed Portuguese word shas a tilde over a in the 2nd syll.,
indicating nasalization, whence by assimilation the n of the first
syll. I'd be surprised if ther Pak. Panjabi word is not from the English. The AmHerDict listing of cognates of Arab. √w-s-m
is proabably wrong Heb.-Aram. √z-m-n 'tp to appoint" does not belong here. A problem, with a literature, is whether
zman 'time' etc. is borrowed from, or influenced by Pers.
OPers. *zamåna- 'time', which has an Indo-European etymology,
and whether Akk. simāna- is related to the SEm. "time' words with z-.
Martin Schwartz said,
August 30, 2025 @ 12:18 am
THe Portuguese word has tilde over a in the 2nd syll.,
indicating nasalization, whence n in the 1st syll.
THe Pak. Panjabi ius prob. from the English.
Contra AmHerDict., Heb.-Aram. √z-m-n has nought to do with
Arab. √w-s-m. Heb. z(è)man 'time', with similar words
in Aram. and Arab., may have been influenced by OPers.
*jamāna-, cf. Parth. žamān, MPers. zamān, etc. 'time',
cognate w Eng "come". Akk. simānu may be connectd with
the Heb. etc. 'time' words. A famous problem.
As for Greek bóra (fem.), it may well be from the Turkish,
and from Greek entered Italian. Naught to do with Anc.
Gr. BORÉAC Boreéas 'North"Wind', which is Mod. Gr. Vorás (masc.).
Mod. Gr.. bóra is found memorably in a song of the 1940s
by Spyros Peristeris: Vrehi Vrehi Anna Hrysafi YouTube,
in which the instrumentation is iconic of the heavy rain and snow
indicated by the opening lyrics; the 2nd verse has 'Where can you be in such an hour, in the cold and in the bóra?
Kimball Kramer said,
August 31, 2025 @ 4:10 pm
“Tidal wave” is a misnomer, since it is not related to tides. But a “tsunami”, which means “harbor wave”, does not occur only, or primarily, in harbors. “Earthquake wave”, IMHO, would be best, since that is the most common cause for the waves. Other causes, according to Google, are relatively rare compared to underwater earthquakes: “underwater landslides, volcanic eruptions, large underwater explosions, and even meteorite impacts”.
Bob Hoberman said,
September 9, 2025 @ 10:45 am
The linguist Haim Blanc wrote a wonderful essay (in Hebrew) on the use of hamsin in Israeli Hebrew. I'll be happy to send it to anyone who's interested. My email address is readily googleable.