I knew that a turbine was something that turned (duh), but I was driven by my passion for etymology to do further research.
The word originally comes (via French) from the Latin turbo turbinis meaning “spinning top, eddy, whirlwind, that which whirls,” (cf turbid, turbulence, etc) and was originally applied to a wheel spinning on a vertical axis driven by falling water. (And related to the Greek tyrbe meaning wake or turbulence. How come I didn’t remember all this from my Classics days?) Early examples of turbines are windmills and waterwheels.
A turbocharger or turbo is a system that use a turbine to make an engine more powerful. So obviously this is the bullshit word of choice when you mean enhance, promote, boost, strengthen, ramp up, power up… erm… skyrocket…
The A-Z of Bullshit, Hype and Cool Stuff is part of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge 2016
