www.alphadictionary.com

This has so many common references in Northern Europe and is attributed to Proto-Germanic roots. It apparently breaks down to "Thor's din", it is so common I wonder if there were many other words for thunder in Northern Europe. Fear of thunder is kind of a universal human thing.

What struck me as strange is there is a similar word in Persian tundra for thunder? Now, my guess is the pronunciation in European languages changes after the Great Vowel Shift. So is that just a coincidence between the European and Persian languages? It is rare that word people would let such an assumption stand if there weren't some good evidence, see Online Etymology Dictionary.

E

Who has neither fools nor beggars nor whores among his kindred, was born of a stroke of thunder. ~~Romanian Proverb

The Persian word threw me at first, but then I found out it's tundar.

Don't forget that Thunder and Lightning are two of Santa's reindeer.

On an odd note, "Santa's" was not in my spell-check. One of the suggestions made was "Satan's".