thrittene

Middle English

Middle English numbers ^(edit)

←  12	13	14  →
Cardinal: thrittene

Alternative forms

• thirttene

Etymology

From Anglian Old English þreotēne (compare West Saxon þreotīene), from Proto-Germanic *þritehun; equivalent to thre +‎ -tene.

Numeral

thrittene

1. thirteen
   • 1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, "The Somnour's Tale", in The Canterbury Tales, [Westminster: William Caxton, published 1478], →OCLC; Rev. Walter W. Skeat, editor, The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, Vol. 4, Second Edition, Oxford at the Clarendon Press: Humphrey Milford, 1900, →OCLC, lines 2253–2261 (547–553)

     'My lord,' quod he, 'whan that the weder is fair,
     With-outen wind or perturbinge of air,
     Lat bringe a cartwheel here in-to this halle,
     But loke that it have his spokes alle.
     Twelf spokes hath a cartwheel comunly.
     And bring me than twelf freres, woot ye why?
     For thrittene is a covent, as I gesse.[']

     "My lord," he said, "When the weather is good, and there is no wind or perturbations in the air, let a cart-wheel be brought into this hall, but ensure that it has all its spokes: a cart-wheel has twelve spokes, commonly. And bring me then twelve friars, do you know why? Because a thirteen's a convent, as I estimate.

Descendants

• English: thirteen (dialectal throtteen)
• Scots: thirteen, thritteen
• Yola: dhurteen

References

• “thrī̆tẹ̄ne, num.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
• “thrittene”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.