þunor

Forms

þunor m (strong a-stem; genitive singular þunres, nominative plural þunras)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *þunr, from Proto-Germanic *þunraz (“thunder”).^[1][2] Its cognates are Old Frisian thuner, Old Saxon thunar and Old High German donar, and the name of the Norse god Old Norse Þórr.^[3][4][5]

Orel relates it to Sanskrit स्तनति (stánati, “to thunder”), Ancient Greek στένω (sténō, “to moan, sigh”) and Latin tonō (“to thunder”).^[3] Köbler traces it to Pokorny's root Proto-Indo-European *sten- (“to thunder, roar, groan”), and Wiktionary to *(s)tenh₂-.^[6][1] Holthausen sets it beside the verb þunian (“to resound”).^[4]

In Proto-West Germanic the noun ended in a syllabic ⟨r⟩, before which Old English developed a vowel.^[2] The /u/ was not lowered to /o/ before the single nasal, as also in huniġ.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Corpus Glossary, of the first half of the ninth century, has Iouem þuner, glossing the god Jupiter.^[8][9] The weather sense appears in the Old English Boethius of the mid-tenth century: Jupiter has to send þunras & ligeta & windas “thunders, lightnings and winds” against the giants.^[10][9] Bosworth and Toller also quote the Orosius, where lightning strikes the Capitol: An þonor toslog hiora Capitoliam.^[11]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller note that the word implied a striking as well as a sound, and so also meant a thunderbolt; the Orosius uses it for Latin “fulmen”.^[11] A scientific text quoted by Bosworth and Toller explains thunder as the struggle of heat and moisture in the air, which breaks out as lightning.^[11] The Lindisfarne gloss writes ðuner for Latin “tonitruum”.^[11][12][9] Maxims II calls thunder at times the loudest thing: þunar byð þragum hludast.^[9] In glosses it renders “tonitruum”, “fulgur” and “Iuppiter”.^[6]

It lived on as Middle English thonder, now English thunder.^[13][14]

Timeline

• s. ix¹ – Iouem þuner in the Corpus Glossary.^[8][9]
• s. x med. – þunras & ligeta “thunders and lightnings” in the Old English Boethius.^[10][9]
• s. x³/⁴ – ðuner for “tonitruum” in the Lindisfarne gloss of John 12:29.^[12][9]
• a1121 – Middle English thonder in the Peterborough Chronicle.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. thunder.^[11][6]
2. a thunderclap, thunderbolt.^[11][15]
3. (glosses) Jupiter.^[15][6]

Word family

• þunrian
• þunorlīċ
• norþþunor

Descendants

• Middle English thonder (→ English thunder; Scots thunner; Scots thuner)^[1]

Related words

• þunian

Usage notes

The thunder god, the Old English counterpart of Old Norse Þórr and Old High German Donar, has the same name, Þunor; it is the first part of þunresdæġ “Thursday”.^[1][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 328
3. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 429
4. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 372
5. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 32
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. þunor
7. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 3.11
8. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 76
9. ^ a b c d e f g Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
10. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 296
11. ^ a b c d e f Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 1076
12. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 291
13. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
14. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
15. ^ a b c Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 207