You searched for: “tempest
tempest (s) (noun), tempests (pl)
1. A severe storm with very high winds and often rain, hail, or snow: A tempest swept through the town, uprooting trees, removing housetops, and knocking over patio chairs and tables.
2. A severe commotion or disturbance, especially an emotional upheaval about something that is not very important: While setting the table for guests for Jacob's birthday dinner, there arose a heated "tempest in a teapot” about whether to use paper napkins or cloth napkins, which was certainly a trivial issue to say the least!
3. Etymology: from Latin tempestas, from tempus, "time, season".

The Latin word originally meant "period of time", which evolved into "weather" and, finally, "storm". Tempus resulted in a neutral condition as "weather", and provided the word for "weather" in modern French (temps), Italian (tempo), Spanish (tiempo), and Romanian (timp).

Other languages whose word for "weather" came from a term originally denoting "time" include Russian (pogodo), Polish (czas), Czech (pocasi), Latvian (laiks), and Breton (amzer).

Dictionary of Word Origins, by John Ayto,
Arcade Publishing, New York, 1990.
This entry is located in the following unit: tempo-, tempor-, temp- (page 4)
A unit related to: “tempest
(Greek > Latin: whirlwind, tempest)