Unconfigured Ad Widget

Collapse

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Saturday se`nnight.

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Saturday se`nnight.

    I have a newspaper clipping of a marriage that say they were married on Saturday se`nnight, what does it mean by se`nnight please ?

    The article was 24 Oct 1832, the marriage from IGI was 13 Oct 1832.

    Sylvia
    Sylvia

    Derbyshire :- Gough, Tomlinson, Fletcher, Shipley, Spencer, Calladine, Rogers, Kerry, Robotham
    Leicestershire:- Gough, Cooper, Underwood, Hearn, Inglehearn
    Staffordshire:- Robotham, Hickinbotham, Hill, Holmes

  • #2
    Basically seven nights.


    sennight - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
    archaic : the space of seven nights and days


    World Wide Words: Sennight
    Sennight is an abbreviation of the fuller phrase seven nights, hence a week. So Sir Thomas Malory wrote in Le Mort d’Arthur (1485): “They sojourned there a sennight, and were well eased of their wounds, and at the last departed”. It has been written in various ways down the centuries, for example as sen’night and sevennight.
    Joy

    Comment


    • #3
      It goes with "fortnight" (two weeks) which apparently is not used very much outside Australia !!
      Diane
      Sydney Australia
      Avatar: Reuben Edward Page and Lilly Mary Anne Dawson

      Comment


      • #4
        Fortnight's commonly used in England, but not in the USA, I believe.

        Comment


        • #5
          Fortnight is would be then, sorry should have said the marriage was in Chesterfield Derbyshire.

          Thank you all

          Sylvia
          Sylvia

          Derbyshire :- Gough, Tomlinson, Fletcher, Shipley, Spencer, Calladine, Rogers, Kerry, Robotham
          Leicestershire:- Gough, Cooper, Underwood, Hearn, Inglehearn
          Staffordshire:- Robotham, Hickinbotham, Hill, Holmes

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by Ozzie Gert View Post
            Fortnight is would be then, sorry should have said the marriage was in Chesterfield Derbyshire.

            Thank you all

            Sylvia
            See Joy's answer - Fortnight is short for fourteen nights ie TWO weeks, Se'nnight short for seven nights ie ONE week.
            Nowadays we'd probably say it happened "a week ago on Saturday", I rather like the precision of se'nnight
            Judith passed away in October 2018

            Comment


            • #7
              Thank you Judith, my appologies to Joy for not reading her post properly.

              So if i now have this right the article was in wednesdays paper the 24th and it meant 7 days before the pervious saturday which should have been the 13th ?

              Sylvia
              Sylvia

              Derbyshire :- Gough, Tomlinson, Fletcher, Shipley, Spencer, Calladine, Rogers, Kerry, Robotham
              Leicestershire:- Gough, Cooper, Underwood, Hearn, Inglehearn
              Staffordshire:- Robotham, Hickinbotham, Hill, Holmes

              Comment


              • #8
                13th Oct 1832 was a Saturday, so it presumably meant the nearest (or previous) Saturday to 7 days ago.

                Day of the Week Calculator by Ancestor Search.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Thank you for that Mary, have put it in my favourites

                  Sylvia
                  Sylvia

                  Derbyshire :- Gough, Tomlinson, Fletcher, Shipley, Spencer, Calladine, Rogers, Kerry, Robotham
                  Leicestershire:- Gough, Cooper, Underwood, Hearn, Inglehearn
                  Staffordshire:- Robotham, Hickinbotham, Hill, Holmes

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    You sometimes come across the term se'nnight in Jane Austen novels or other 18th or 19th century novels.

                    I wonder why we lost it, and when and why we use the word "week" instead?

                    Ros

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Odd, isn't it.

                      In Italy they tend to use the terms "15 days" and "8 days" to mean what we'd call a fortnight and a week.

                      Comment

                      Working...
                      X