[[malstrøm]]
Fragment of a discussion from User talk:Leolaursen
See also w:Talk:Maelstrom#Etymology, w:Talk:Maelstrom#Etymology, again. I am not terribly convinced that Dutch cartographers gave it its name (Atlas Cosmographicae (Mercator) gives Maelſtrom), see e.g. w:Grottasöngr#Prose Edda, a name is often (much) older than the legend trying to explain it.
I don't know whether strom (as opposed to strome or stroom) is middle Dutch, on the other hand Strom is German.