Santa actually explained this to me the other day! I took my daughter to see Santa and she mentioned something Frozen related to him. He asked her “who do you like best? Elsa or “Anne-a”? And his photographer says “Santa, it’s AH-nuh” and he says “That’s okay. A lot of people mispronounce my reindeer’s name” and then explains how we often see it written as Donner because Gene Autry was a folky country guy who dropped consonants from words when he sang, giving us “Donner” instead of “Donder”. He said Donder actually means thunder in Dutch.
The original publishing of the poem A Visit from St. Nicholas in the 1820s had that pair of reindeer named Dunder and Blixem, Dutch for thunder and lightning. When it was republished by the author in the 1840s he changed them to Donder and Blitzen. That poem was the first reference to Santa's reindeers' names. In the early 1900s, Donner started to be used as well. Both Donder and Donner are correct.
What a lovely mixture of german and dutch we got there. Donder is dutch, donner is german, Dunder is made up. Blitz is german, bliksem is dutch, both blixem and blitzen is made up. This feels very much like home. Our dialect in limburg is a mix of German and Dutch. So we got a ton of words that do this kind of stuff. :)
We just showed the kids Ernest saves Christmas last night. He can’t remember the reindeer names and repeatedly uses Donder. So weird to have this come up so soon after.
It’s not what has become commonplace but “Donder” is accurate.
https://smithapplebyhouse.org/14007-2/
So did most people, I'd imagine.
That’s actually technically correct. The name got changed over time. There’s more info on it, this is just the first one I found.
https://www.patrickkphillips.com/grammar/donder-or-donner-did-santa-change-the-name-of-a-reindeer/
My hungry ass read Döner
Rentier-Döner? I'd try it.
Yum
Santa actually explained this to me the other day! I took my daughter to see Santa and she mentioned something Frozen related to him. He asked her “who do you like best? Elsa or “Anne-a”? And his photographer says “Santa, it’s AH-nuh” and he says “That’s okay. A lot of people mispronounce my reindeer’s name” and then explains how we often see it written as Donner because Gene Autry was a folky country guy who dropped consonants from words when he sang, giving us “Donner” instead of “Donder”. He said Donder actually means thunder in Dutch.
Yes! In the original poem, it was Donder and Blixem. Donder, being Dutch for thunder and Blixem, being Dutch for lighting.
r/ConfidentlyIncorrect
The original publishing of the poem A Visit from St. Nicholas in the 1820s had that pair of reindeer named Dunder and Blixem, Dutch for thunder and lightning. When it was republished by the author in the 1840s he changed them to Donder and Blitzen. That poem was the first reference to Santa's reindeers' names. In the early 1900s, Donner started to be used as well. Both Donder and Donner are correct.
What a lovely mixture of german and dutch we got there. Donder is dutch, donner is german, Dunder is made up. Blitz is german, bliksem is dutch, both blixem and blitzen is made up. This feels very much like home. Our dialect in limburg is a mix of German and Dutch. So we got a ton of words that do this kind of stuff. :)
On Dunder, on Mifflin!
Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Reagan, Nixon
you were so close
cool
Best kanye album
We just showed the kids Ernest saves Christmas last night. He can’t remember the reindeer names and repeatedly uses Donder. So weird to have this come up so soon after.
Donner throws the best parties
He changed his name after …. that one party!
D
No boy, Honder is what grown-ups call me.