The word storm is a very old word that predates English itself according to The Oxford English Dictionary.

SPONSOR: GotoMeeting Hold your meetings online for just $49/mo. Try GoToMeeting FREE for 30 days

It shows up in almost identical form in many Germanic languages and appears to have the same ancient roots as does the word stir.

The image of a divine wooden spoon stirring up black clouds springs to mind.

The power of weather has always left an impression on people’s minds, particularly when they are dependent on its good behavior for their survival.

In the century after Shakespeare we are informed by Opie and Tatem’s Dictionary of Superstitions that sailors whose lives were often threatened by stormy weather believed that having a prostitute onboard the ship would bring storms upon them.

Imagine a seaman of those days, having been confined to his vessel for weeks or months and finally getting shore leave.  His temptation to strike up an acquaintance with one of the ladies of the port must have been considerable.

And when the time came to sail, it’s only natural that the intimate couple conspire to smuggle her onboard to continue the fun.

Now imagine the scene some time later when she is discovered.

The sad outcome seems to have been that she was often hurled into the waves as some sort of sacrifice to Neptune in a misguided attempt to avert stormy weather.

A common sailor might be forgiven for his superstitious prejudice but compare the contrasting beliefs of the educated classes of the time.

While getting rid of a lady-of-the-night might avoid a storm (even at the cost of killing her) a great storm was seen by the upper crust as nature’s unease at the death of a leading citizen.

Simpson & Roud’s Dictionary of English Folklore reports that the death of Cromwell was accompanied by a storm and that the best of English society connected the two events.

We find in the diaries of Samuel Pepys the account of a storm which made him worry that it might mean the death of the queen.

The significance of a great storm seemed to be ambiguous and might announce the death of a good person, or the passing of an evil person into hell.

This makes me think that killing a prostitute would have had no effect at all on the weather since some people felt it prevented storms while others thought it brought them on—it’s a kind of a balance of superstition.