How did the term "Fortnight" come into being?

[FatBaldGuy]

I have no major problem with the use of fortnight, but I have a real hard time trying to figure a legitimate reason to weigh things in stones.

[Sal_Ammoniac]

@Sal_Ammoniac

Another way to put the question is why we in America have so little use for the term. As we’ve seen from the thread, the British, the French and the Australians – among many others, I’m sure – find it useful to have a ready term for half a month’s worth of time. Why don’t we?

Of course, after noting that Americans don’t use the term, I just had to come across the term “fortnightly” this morning in the Wall Street Journal. Maybe it’s a trend! Certain there are plenty of other British expressions that have moved across the pond in recent years.

[Tapioca_Dextrin]

@FatBaldGuy

I have a real hard time trying to figure a legitimate reason to weigh things in stones.

But you’re OK with 1mile = 1760 yards = 5280 feet = 63360 inches?

[VOW]

I thank the Celestial Beings that we don’t keep track of days of the month like the Romans. The months had three labeled days: Kalends, Nones, and Ides. (as in March) (and I’m probably screwing this up horribly.)

So, a day in the month would be labeled, “three days before Nones,” or “two days post Ides.”

Compared to THAT, “Fortnight” is a breeze!
~VOW

[jabiru]

I am also paid fortnightly, so I find it an extremely useful word. I may even try to resurrect sennight. If I could be paid sennightly, I’d be a very happy woman.

[Miss_Mapp]

@DrDeth

I sometimes use “sen-night” for a week.

Me too.

When I was at university in the UK, we had meetings with our tutors one day every other week–it was called a fortnightly class.

[Lamia]

@BeaMyra

I think part of the thing the OP is getting at, as someone else said, was the use of fortnight to mean more than one.

You can say we get paid every two weeks or every three weeks, or we go on holiday every month or every two months.

But you (usually) don’t hear we get paid, every two fornights. You’d say, once a month. You’d not say, we get paid every half fornight. You’d say once a week.

There’s no reason to measure in fortnights when the period of time in question roughly corresponds to a commonly used unit of time like a week or month. “Half a fortnight” takes longer to say/write and is less clear than just saying “a week”. One doesn’t usually say “every sixty minutes”, “every seven days”, or “every four weeks” either, because these more or less correspond to other common units for measuring time.

[SanVito]

@Lamia

There’s no reason to measure in fortnights when the period of time in question roughly corresponds to a commonly used unit of time like a week or month. “Half a fortnight” takes longer to say/write and is less clear than just saying “a week”. One doesn’t usually say “every sixty minutes”, “every seven days”, or “every four weeks” either, because these more or less correspond to other common units for measuring time.

Yeah, it’s just a word. Nobody consciously thinks they’re saying ‘fourteen nights’ anyway and nobody would use it as a system of measurement for anything other than ‘about two weeks’. It’s just a handy word for a commonly used period of time. Language ain’t logical.

[Mangosteen]

Has the fact that American shows on the teley in Britain and else where use “every other week” or “every two weeks” had any effect on the use of “fortnight” by the young people who watch those damn American sitcoms?

[Mangetout]

@Mangosteen

Has the fact that American shows on the teley in Britain and else where use “every other week” or “every two weeks” had any effect on the use of “fortnight” by the young people who watch those damn American sitcoms?

Not really, because those expressions were also already in use here.

[Toucanna]

@Lamia

{snip}Both “biweekly” and “bimonthly” are used to refer to something that happens every two weeks/twice a month…{snip}

Poking around on various on-line dictionary and grammar sites, I came across the following:

Bi-weekly = occurring once every two weeks;
bi-monthly = occurring once every two months.
However, bi-annually = occurring twice a year. “Biennial” means “occurring every two years” and sometimes, “an event that lasts two years”.

Semi-weekly = occurring once every half-week;
semi-monthly = occurring once every half-month;
semi-annually = occurring once every half-year.

Many people are unaware of the different meanings of “bi-” and “semi-” and use these prefixes interchangeably.

[Candyman74]

@Lamia

There’s no reason to measure in fortnights when the period of time in question roughly corresponds to a commonly used unit of time like a week or month. “Half a fortnight” takes longer to say/write and is less clear than just saying “a week”. One doesn’t usually say “every sixty minutes”, “every seven days”, or “every four weeks” either, because these more or less correspond to other common units for measuring time.

If you’re going to insist on logic in the English language, you’re gonna be pretty disappointed. The language is chock full of eccentric phraseology, colloquialisms, and more. “Fortnight”, frankly, is a very minor offender.

[Lamia]

@Candyman74

If you’re going to insist on logic in the English language, you’re gonna be pretty disappointed. The language is chock full of eccentric phraseology, colloquialisms, and more. “Fortnight”, frankly, is a very minor offender.

I don’t have any problem with the word “fortnight”, I was merely explaining why it would be unusual to say something like “every two fortnights”.