Ooo thank you for the question, Ellie! I'd never thought about the etymology of fortnight before so I looked it up this morning. Fourteen nights ... because the Anglo-Saxons counted by nights! I love thinking about different ways to name the slices of the time cake. A couple of weeks ago a friend mentioned that in German instead of 'half-past eight' it would be 'half to nine' and I can't stop thinking about it.
Hmm so fourtnight or fortnight? I'll admit that fourtnight doesn't look right. Maybe a solution is to opt for the Welsh term instead? Which (according to Wikipedia anyway) is pythefnos or fifteen nights.
I have a question: do you feel the same about fortnight? I’ve got so many, I’ll think of you next time I come to one!
Ooo thank you for the question, Ellie! I'd never thought about the etymology of fortnight before so I looked it up this morning. Fourteen nights ... because the Anglo-Saxons counted by nights! I love thinking about different ways to name the slices of the time cake. A couple of weeks ago a friend mentioned that in German instead of 'half-past eight' it would be 'half to nine' and I can't stop thinking about it.
Hmm so fourtnight or fortnight? I'll admit that fourtnight doesn't look right. Maybe a solution is to opt for the Welsh term instead? Which (according to Wikipedia anyway) is pythefnos or fifteen nights.