Etymologically
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fortnight

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈfɔːt.naɪt/ (UK); /ˈfɔɹt.naɪt/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English fourtenight,[2][3][4] a contraction of fourtene night,[2][3][5] inherited from Old English fēowertīene niht (“fourteen nights”),[2][3][5][6][4] from fēowertīene “fourteen” and niht “night”.[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A period of fourteen nights; two weeks (a1000).[7][5][3]

Semantic evolution

The word preserves the ancient Germanic custom of counting time by nights, mentioned by Tacitus.[5][6] Barnhart notes the same reckoning in Welsh, where wythnos “eight nights” means a week and pythefnos “fifteen nights” a fortnight.[5] Phrases like Monday fortnight, “a fortnight from Monday”, date from 1389.[7]

Timeline

  • a1000 – fēowertīene niht, fourteen nights.[7][5]
  • c1300 – fourteniht.[5]
  • 1389 – this day fortnight, a fortnight from today.[7]
  • 1549 – attributive, fortnightly.[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A period of fourteen days; two weeks.
  • fortnightly
  • sennight
  • fourteen
  • night

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press