The fortnight is a unit of time equivalent to fourteen days. The word derives from the Old English feorwertyne niht, meaning "fourteen nights". [1]
The word is common in Britain, Ireland and many Commonwealth countries such as India and Australia where many wages, salaries and most social security benefits are paid on a fortnightly basis. [2] The fortnight is rarely used in the United States, but is used regionally in Canada. It is also the base unit of time in the humorous FFF System of units. The Furlong/Firkin/Fortnight (FFF system is a set of units that uses impractical and outdated measurements
In many languages, there is no single word for a two-week period and the equivalents of "two weeks" or "fourteen days" have to be used. Payroll systems may use the term bi-weekly in reference to pay periods every two weeks. In Spanish, Italian, French and in Portuguese, there are the terms quincena, quindici giorni, quinzaine and quinzena, all meaning "fifteen days". Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people Portuguese ( or língua portuguesa) is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia (Spain and northern Portugal. Similarly, in Greek, the term dekapenthimero meaning "fifteen days" is also used. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly In Arabic the short term "أسبوعان" (two weeks) is commonly used and the longer term "خمسة عشر يوماً" (fifteen days) is used to a lesser extent. Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language In Hebrew the term "שבועיים" (two weeks) is commonly used.
References
- ^ The Concise Oxford Dictionary, 5th Edition, 1964, p. 480
- ^ Australian Government - How much Disability Support Pension do I get?. Retrieved on 2008-05-22. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 334 BC - The Greek army of Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of the Granicus.
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