German for thunder is "donner" not "donder". e: "Dunder" is apparently Dutch for thunder. So it's either "Donner and Blitzen" German for thunder and lightning or "Dunder and Blixem" which is Dutch for thunder and lighting, but "Dunder and Blitzen" doesn't make sense because it mixes languages.
The original 1823 publication uses the Dutch words for both. If you believe Wikipedia, it didn't change to "Donder and Blitzen" until the poem was reprinted in a book published in 1900.
Well, that's the version they made us memorize endlessly in school, probably because "Donder" is one of those "gotcha" words, that hit your grade bigger than other ones. Like "blow" in In Flanders Fields.
GM Word of the Week did an episode that dealt with the subject. Blixem was changed to Blitzen to make a better rhyme with Vixen. Dunder became Donder because that's how people were pronouncing it. Donder was then changed to Donner to restore the thunder and lightning theme.
German for thunder is "donner" not "donder". e: "Dunder" is apparently Dutch for thunder. So it's either "Donner and Blitzen" German for thunder and lightning or "Dunder and Blixem" which is Dutch for thunder and lighting, but "Dunder and Blitzen" doesn't make sense because it mixes languages.
Ah, but it kind of is that way in the original poem.
The original 1823 publication uses the Dutch words for both. If you believe Wikipedia, it didn't change to "Donder and Blitzen" until the poem was reprinted in a book published in 1900.
Well, that's the version they made us memorize endlessly in school, probably because "Donder" is one of those "gotcha" words, that hit your grade bigger than other ones. Like "blow" in In Flanders Fields.
Thanks you both for the information.
GM Word of the Week did an episode that dealt with the subject. Blixem was changed to Blitzen to make a better rhyme with Vixen. Dunder became Donder because that's how people were pronouncing it. Donder was then changed to Donner to restore the thunder and lightning theme.
Donder en bliksem are the Dutch words. There has never been a Dutch spelling with a U. It's not Dutch.