turmoil = der Aufruhr, der Tumult, das Chaos, der Umbruch
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GOOGLE INDEX
turmoil: approximately 8,000,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
Political TURMOIL again in Ukraine
(BBC News headline)
--- The best thinking has been done in solitude. The worst has been done in TURMOIL.
(Thomas A. Edison, inventor)
Did you know?
turmoil noun
- a state of great disturbance, confusion, or uncertainty
(Oxford Dictionary)
--- Turmoil has existed since time immemorial, but the word is "only" around 500 years old. It's thought to stem from the Middle French "tremouille," or mill hopper, a vessel that holds stone for grinding grain. Tremouille is in turn from the Latin trimodia, a vessel containing three modii, which was a dry measure in Roman times.
Mill hoppers are pretty chaotic as they literally shake, rattle and roll the stones in order to grind the grain. This is likely where turmoil acquired the sense of a disturbance or confusion. Modern, industrial-scale grain mills of course rely on huge steel rollers.
Although they create less turmoil than conventional grinders, some experts meanwhile believe that modern flour production methods eliminate essential nutrients from the wheat. For those interested in creating your own turmoil at home, so-called counter-top mill hoppers or grinders are commercially available.