# Word Origin: "Santa" vs."Claus" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 16, 2002, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-origin-santa-vs-claus/143067 "2002-12-16T13:11:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-origin-santa-vs-claus/143067/1 "2002-12-16T13:11:45Z")
Isn’t “Santa” a Spanish word for “saint”, as in Santa Barbara? And, (I’m WAGing) isn’t Claus actually a German word? Does anyone know the etimology here? Unless Claus is Spanish for Nicholas, as is St. Nich…? - Jinx 😕 ---
**Author:** ![mrcrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@mrcrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrcrow)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-origin-santa-vs-claus/143067/2 "2002-12-16T13:17:05Z")
😃 frozti ra snaman is this russian, as in rednow yob dna nibor?😃 merry christmas old chap:cool: ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-origin-santa-vs-claus/143067/3 "2002-12-16T13:20:00Z")
MrCrow, you’re in a silly mood this morning…nipping too much egg nog last night, are we? 😃 -Jinx ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-origin-santa-vs-claus/143067/4 "2002-12-16T13:24:54Z")
According to the OED, Santa Claus comes from the Dutch: > [@](#): > > [a. Du. dial. Sante Klaas (Du. Sint Klaas), Saint Nicholas: see NICHOLAS.] The Spanish “santa” is a cognate, though it may have influenced the spelling. ---
**Author:** ![mrcrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@mrcrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrcrow)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-origin-santa-vs-claus/143067/5 "2002-12-16T13:30:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jinx \* > \*\*MrCrow, you’re in a silly mood this morning…nipping too much egg nog last night, are we? 😃 -Jinx \*\* i thought you brilliantly answered your own post even i could not have done that…:rolleyes: maybe:eek: ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-origin-santa-vs-claus/143067/6 "2002-12-16T18:02:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mrcrow \* > \*\*i thought you brilliantly answered your own post > even i could not have done that…:rolleyes: maybe:eek: \*\* Well, you know what they say…never ask a question to which you don’t already know the answer. As if that logic makes any sense at all! :rolleyes: I suppose you already knew Santa was Dutch (per RealityChuck’s post), but you were too bashful to share this with us. Granted, Santa’s been around awhile, so this is probably well known. But, like Yingling, it sure don’t sound German or Dutch, too me! (I guess Jack Nicholson will have to change his name to Jack Claussen, then, right?) All posted in good fun… Personally, I think Santa Clause (sic) should hang out in Santa Phrase, NM on the off-season! 😉 - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-origin-santa-vs-claus/143067/7 "2002-12-16T18:21:44Z")
Minor point re: **Reality Chuck** ’s answer - I’ve always thought it was pronounced _Sinterklaas_ in Dutch … more or less as one word. This usage spread from the New Amsterdam area in pre-Revolutionary times to English speakers. “Santa Claus”, then, is a corruption of Sinterklaas. Perhaps that is a late-18th century Dutch pronounciation? **Coldfire** , do Dutch children still wait for Sinterklaas on Christmas Eve, or is it Sint/Sante Klaas? ---
**Author:** ![Chava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Chava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chava)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-origin-santa-vs-claus/143067/8 "2002-12-16T18:31:18Z")
**Santa** is indeed a Spanish word for saint or holy. It’s the feminine form. The masculine for saint is **San**. So, Santa Barbara, San Felipe. Santa Fe is holy faith; **fe** happens to be a feminine noun. Obviously it has nothing to do with Santa Claus, who comes from St. Nicholas by way of Dutch. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-origin-santa-vs-claus/143067/9 "2002-12-16T18:42:44Z")
Though the resemblance of _Santa Claus_ to Spanish female saints’ names in completely coincidental, it still reminds me of the last _Odd Couple_ movie from Neil Simon. In the movie, Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau meet up in California for their children’s wedding. I enjoyed it well enough, but Simon consistently bastardized and mangled California place names, using “Santa” with masculine names and “San” with feminine ones. I can’t believe he was so obtuse so it must have been intentional. I thought it a little bit patronizing. ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-origin-santa-vs-claus/143067/10 "2002-12-16T22:28:23Z")
Saint Nicholas would be Sint Niklaas, properly, but I’d bet that small excitable children would run it togather (think of the American kids’ “Sandy-caws”)-- maybe the origin of the other spelling. The train from Antwerp to Bruges runs through a town named Sint Niklaas, and whenever the conductor announces the approach of the station he runs it together so it that the syllabic stress falls exactly in the same spots as the American pronounciation of Santa Claus (SINnicKLAas: SANtaCLaus) and it always me sit up straight for a minute and smile. ---
**Author:** ![Tblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@Tblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tblue)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-origin-santa-vs-claus/143067/11 "2002-12-16T23:50:58Z")
Hello! My first posting on these boards… 🙂 (“RealityChuck” cause me to fleetingly think “RealityClaus”… ?) The Dutch “Sinterklaas” was the origin that sprang to my mind too. For some reason, I thought Sinder was like Cinder? (After all, he does come down the chimney, yes?) Ran “Saint” through an English/Dutch translator but the word match was “Heilige” - so no joy there. “Sinter” from Dutch to English produced nothing either, but “sint” expanded to “absintlikeur” - absinthe… (So **that’s** why I’ve been seeing strange stuff!) Hey. 'Sintli Keurs… Santa Claus… yes? 😉