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A nor’easter (also northeaster; see below) is a macro-scale storm along the upper East Coast of the United States and Atlantic Canada; it gets its name from the direction the wind is coming in from the storm. The wind on land, therefore, will generally blow from the northeast. The usage of the term in North America comes from the wind associated with many different types of storms, some of which can form in the North Atlantic Ocean and some of which form as far south as the Gulf of Mexico. The term is most often used in the coastal areas of New England and the Mid-Atlantic states. A nor’easter is a low pressure area that often passes just off the New England and southeast Canada Atlantic coastline. Winds in the left-forward quadrant rotate onto land from the northeast. The precipitation pattern is similar to that of other extratropical storms. Nor’easters can cause severe coastal flooding, coastal erosion, hurricane force winds or blizzard conditions; these conditions are usually accompanied with very heavy rain or snow, depending on when the storm occurs. Nor'easters thrive on the converging air masses; that is, the polar cold air mass and the warmer oceanic air over the Gulf Stream. ==Etymology and usage== The term ''nor'easter'' came to American English by way of British English. According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', the first recorded use in the English language of the term "nore" (“north”) in association with the points of the compass and wind direction was by Dekker in 1612: ''"How blowes the winde Syr?" "Wynde! is Nore-Nore-West."'' However, this is incorrect, as John Lyly uses the term the same way in his play of 1585, ''Gallathea''. Similar uses occurred in 1688 (''… Nore and Nore-West …'') and in 1718 (''… Nore-west or Nore-nore-west.'') These recorded uses are predated by use of the term "noreast", first recorded as used by Davis in 1594 (''Noreast by North raiseth a degree in sayling 24 leagues.'') and shown, for instance, on a compass card published in 1607. Thus, the manner of pronouncing from memory the 32 points of the compass, known in maritime training as "boxing the compass", is described by Ansted〔Ansted. ''A Dictionary of Sea Terms'', Brown Son & Ferguson, Glasgow, 1933〕 with pronunciations "Nor'east (or west)," "Nor' Nor'-east (or west)," "Nor'east b' east (or west)," and so forth. According to the OED, the first recorded use of the term "nor'easter" occurs in 1836 in a translation of Aristophanes. The term “nor’easter” naturally developed from the historical spellings and pronunciations of the compass points and the direction of wind or sailing. As noted in a January 2006 editorial by William Sisson, editor of Soundings magazine, use of "nor'easter" to describe the storm system is common along the U.S. East Coast. Yet it has been asserted by linguist Mark Liberman (see below) that "nor'easter" as a contraction for "northeaster" has no basis in regional New England dialect; the Boston accent would elide the "R": ''no'theastuh. He describes nor'easter as a "fake" word. However, this view neglects the little-known etymology and the historical maritime usage described above. Nineteenth-century Downeast mariners pronounced the compass point "north northeast" as "no'nuth-east", and so on. For decades, Edgar Comee, of Brunswick, Maine, waged a determined battle against use of the term "nor'easter" by the press, which usage he considered "a pretentious and altogether lamentable affectation" and "the odious, even loathsome, practice of landlubbers who would be seen as salty as the sea itself". His efforts, which included mailing hundreds of postcards, were profiled, just before his death at the age of 88, in ''The New Yorker''. Despite the efforts of Comee and others, use of the term continues by the press. According to ''Boston Globe'' writer Jan Freeman, "from 1975 to 1980, journalists used the nor’easter spelling only once in five mentions of such storms; in the past year (2003), more than 80 percent of northeasters were spelled nor'easter". University of Pennsylvania linguistics professor Mark Liberman has pointed out that while the OED cites examples dating back to 1837, these examples represent the contributions of a handful of non-New England poets and writers. Liberman posits that "nor'Easter" may have originally been a literary affectation, akin to "e'en" for "even" and "th'only" for "the only", which is an indication in spelling that two syllables count for only one position in metered verse, with no implications for actual pronunciation. However, despite these assertions, the term can be found in the writings of New Englanders, and was frequently used by the press in the 19th century. * The Hartford Times reported on a storm striking New York in December 1839, and observed, "We Yankees had a share of this same "noreaster," but it was quite moderate in comparison to the one of the 15h inst."〔"Snow Storm", ''The Hartford Times'', Hartford, 28 December 1836〕 * Thomas Bailey Aldrich, in his semi-autobiographical work ''The Story of a Bad Boy'' (1870), wrote "We had had several slight flurries of hail and snow before, but this was a regular nor'easter". * In her story "In the Gray Goth" (1869) Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward wrote "...and there was snow in the sky now, setting in for a regular nor'easter". * John H. Tice, in ''A new system of meteorology, designed for schools and private students'' (1878), wrote ''During this battle, the dreaded, disagreeable and destructive Northeaster rages over the New England, the Middle States, and southward. No nor'easter ever occurs except when there is a high barometer headed off and driven down upon Nova Scotia and Lower Canada.'' Usage existed into the 20th century in the form of: * Current event description, as the Publication Committee of the New York Charity Organization Society wrote in ''Charities and the commons: a weekly journal of philanthropy and social advance, Volume 19'' (1908): ''In spite of a heavy "nor'easter," the worst that has visited the New England coast in years, the hall was crowded.'' * Historical reference, as used by Mary Rogers Bangs in ''Old Cape Cod'' (1917): ''In December of 1778, the Federal brig General Arnold, Magee master and twelve Barnstable men among the crew, drove ashore on the Plymouth flats during a furious nor'easter, the "Magee storm" that mariners, for years after, used as a date to reckon from.'' * A ''common contraction for "northeaster"'', as listed in Ralph E. Huschke's ''Glossary of meteorology'' (1959). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「nor'easter」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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