also thunder-storm, 1560s, from thunder (n.) + storm (n.).
Entries linking to thunderstorm
thunder n.
mid-13c., from Old English þunor "thunder, thunderclap; the god Thor," from Proto-Germanic *thunraz (source also of Old Norse þorr, Old Frisian thuner, Middle Dutch donre, Dutch donder, Old High German donar, German Donner "thunder"), from PIE *(s)tene- "to resound, thunder" (source also of Sanskrit tanayitnuh "thundering," Persian tundar "thunder," Latin tonare "to thunder"). Swedish tordön is literally "Thor's din." The unetymological -d- also is found in Dutch and Icelandic versions of the word (compare sound (n.1)). Thunder-stick, imagined word used by primitive peoples for "gun," attested from 1904.
storm n.
Old English storm "violent disturbance of the atmosphere, tempest; onrush, attack, tumult; disturbance," from Proto-Germanic *sturmaz "storm" (source also of Old Norse stormr, Old Saxon, Middle Low German, Middle Dutch, Dutch storm, Old High German sturm, German Sturm), from PIE *stur-mo-, from root *(s)twer- (1) "to turn, whirl." Old French estour "onset, tumult," Italian stormo "a fight" are Germanic loan-words. Figurative (non-meteorological) sense was in late Old English.
Storm-wind is from 1798. Storm-door first recorded 1872; storm-water is from 1847; storm-window is attested from 1824. Storm surge attested from 1872. Adverbial phrase _______ up a storm is from 1946.