Word of the Day from Dictionary.com
Happy Friday to you! Today’s Dictionary.com Word of the Day is “Fortnight”. Though not a word commonly used here in the U.S. it is one of those lovely old English words that is good to keep in one’s poetry vocabulary data bank. How much more fluid it is to say a fortnight rather than fourteen days, two weeks or bi-weekly. A bit of history below and then a few haiku for you. Have a great weekend!
Origin of Fortnight:
From Wikipedia: A fortnight is a unit of time equal to 14 days (2 weeks). The word derives from the Old English: fēowertyne niht, meaning “fourteen nights”.
From the Oxford Dictionary: Although an Old English word, night comes ultimately from the same root as Latin nox, the source of equinox (Late Middle English) and nocturnal (Late Middle English). Fortnight (Old English) is an Old English contraction of ‘fourteen nights’, and reflects an ancient Germanic custom of reckoning time by nights rather than days.
Fortnight – Friday’s Word of the Day Haiku
1-
Fourteen days and nights
‘Tis a fortnight I am told…
I call it two weeks.
2-
Radiant Luna wanes
a full fortnight, fair to gloom
from madness to muse.
kat ~ 11 December 2015
like mercury colliding... 
December 11th, 2015 at 4:09 pm
Well done, as always. My contribution to the cause is as follows:
Endure a fortnight?
No. Enjoy a fortnight? Oh
Insufficient time.
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December 11th, 2015 at 4:35 pm
Thanks for chiming in. There is never enough time! 🙂
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December 11th, 2015 at 4:49 pm
love this use of the word, number 2 is lovely Kat!
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December 11th, 2015 at 4:56 pm
Number 2 is my favorite too. Number one is a bit clinical. 🙂 I don’t use this word regularly, though this one I was at least familiar with. thanks Lynn. 🙂
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December 11th, 2015 at 4:58 pm
yes me too i have heard it but not used it. 2 is lovely!!
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December 11th, 2015 at 5:32 pm
😊
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December 12th, 2015 at 9:48 am
Beautiful Haikus! I didn’t know that fortnight meant 2 weeks. It is nice to learn that.
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December 12th, 2015 at 9:57 am
I really like looking at the word for the day. Wish I had time to do it every day! Haha.
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December 12th, 2015 at 10:14 am
I have an online dictionary that has a word a day and I never thought of doing a post about it. Great idea!
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December 12th, 2015 at 10:17 am
Thanks! I figured I could handle one day a week for a post, but I do check in to learn other new words too. Only us word lovers understand how much fun this is! 😉
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