etymology - Why the phrase "thunder and lightning", and not "lightning and thunder"?


So there was just a thunderstorm, and my sister came with a question I couldn't answer:



Why is it "thunder and lightning", because the lightning comes before the thunder? Shouldn't it be "lightning and thunder"?



And now I wonder, where did the phrase "thunder and lightning" come from, and why isn't it "lightning and thunder"?



Answer



In the Latin bible, it is written in Exodus 19:16-25:



iam advenerat tertius dies et mane inclaruerat et ecce coeperunt audiri tonitrua ac micare fulgura et nubes densissima operire montem clangorque bucinae vehementius perstrepebat timuit populus qui erat in castris.



A widespread translation in the English Bible is:



On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled



The literal translation of "audiri tonitrua ac micare fulgura" is "hear thunder and see lightning" in this precise (chronologically erroneous) order. We may imagine that today expression thunder and lightning is related to this bible sentence.


EDIT: The whole New Testament was initially written in Greek, whilst the vast majority of the Old Testament was written in Hebrew. Exodus being a part of the Old Testament, the origin of the text is probably Hebrew. The Hebraic Bible was translated to Greek in the 3rd century BC. The first translation from Greek to Latin was the Vulgate by St. Jerome at end of the 4th century AD.


To complete the answer, let's add @Mike's pertinent finding:



It was "thunders and lightnings" in the original Hebrew, too. See: Hebrew-English Exodus translation. "kolot u'vrakim". "Kolot" is thunder (feminine plural) and "vrakim" is lightning (masculine plural).



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