seventy English · revision 39797

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=Old English, Orosius|origins=gem-pro *sebuntēhundą}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈsɛv.ən.ti/^(Wiktionary)

+ * US: /ˈsɛv.ən.di/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|seventy]], [[inh|ang|hundseofontiġ]],^(Wiktionary)^(SOED 2002)^(ODE 2010)^(Bosworth-Toller) a numeral formed from [[m|ang|hund]], an element of uncertain origin,^(SOED 2002)^(ODE 2010) [[m|ang|seofon|t=seven]] and [[m|ang|-tiġ|t=group of ten]], the source of [[-ty]].^(SOED 2002)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) Merriam-Webster and the American Heritage Dictionary give the shorter Old English form [[m|ang|seofontig]], with the first element dropped, and Merriam-Webster takes that element to be ''hund'' "hundred".^(MWU 2024)^(AHD 2024) The first element was lost early in Middle English, as it was in [[eighty]].^(SOED 2002) Wiktionary traces the Old English word to [[gem-pro|*sebuntēhundą]].^(Wiktionary) Related Germanic numerals include [[ofs|sawentich]], [[dum|seventich]], [[osx|sibuntig]], [[goh|sibunzug]] and [[non|sjautugr]].^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Seven times ten, as an adjective: Old English, in the translation of Orosius's ''History''.^(OED 2026)^(HTOED) The Old English numeral is found both as an abstract number and with a noun in the genitive, as in a phrase meaning "seventy men in all".^(Bosworth-Toller) Merriam-Webster gives the 13th century as the first known use of the adjective.^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ As a noun, the abstract number and the figures for it, the word is recorded from about 1175, in the ''Ormulum''.^(OED 2026)^(HTOED) The Wycliffite Bible of about 1382 has ''the Seventy'' for the translators of the [[Septuagint]],^(OED 2026)^(HTOED) and about 1535 the phrase also named the seventy disciples sent out in Luke 10:1.^(OED 2026) It has meant seventy years of age since 1590;^(OED 2026)^(HTOED) a count-noun use, a group of seventy or a period of seventy years, is recorded from 1590 to 1904 and is now obsolete.^(OED 2026) Johnson (1755) defined it simply as seven times ten, quoting Shakespeare's ''Coriolanus''.^(Johnson 1755) Among the Latter-day Saints, ''the Seventy'' has named a body of church officers since 1835.^(OED 2026)^(HTOED) The plural ''seventies'', for the years 70 to 79 of a person's life or a century, and for temperatures in that range, is current.^(Collins 2023) Etymonline notes ''seventy-eight'' for a gramophone record played at 78 revolutions a minute, the standard until long-playing records arrived in 1948.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Old English – ''hundseofontiġ'', seven times ten.^(OED 2026)^(Bosworth-Toller)

+ * c. 1175 – as a noun, the number seventy, in the ''Ormulum''.^(OED 2026)

+ * a1382 – ''the Seventy'', the translators of the Septuagint.^(OED 2026)

+ * c. 1535 – ''the Seventy'', the disciples of Luke 10:1.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1590 – seventy years of age.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1835 – a body of officers in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Numeral===

+ # The [[cardinal number]] that is seven times ten, written 70 or LXX.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # Seventy people or things: ''Seventy turned up for the meeting.''^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+ # ''seventies'' (plural): the numbers from 70 to 79, especially the years of a person's life or of a century, or temperatures in that range: ''a man in his seventies''.^(Collins 2023)^(SOED 2002)

+ # ''the Seventy'': the translators of the [[Septuagint]]; also, the seventy disciples sent out by Jesus in Luke 10.^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002)

+ # ''the Seventy'' (Mormonism): a body of [[elder|alt=elders]] in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commissioned to do [[missionary]] work.^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[seventieth]]

+ * [[seventy-eight]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[seven]]

+ * [[seventeen]]

+ * [[seventh]]

+ * [[sixty]]

+ * [[eighty]]

+ * [[hundred]]

+ * [[septuagenarian]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}