sennight

See also: se'nnight

English

WOTD – 7 January 2023

Etymology

PIE word *septḿ̥

PIE word *nókʷts

From Middle English senight, senyght, sinight (“seven days or nights, a week”) [and other forms], a shortened form of seven-night, sevenight, sevenyght [and other forms], from Late Old English seofeniht, seoueniht (compare seofonnihte (“seven days old; seven days long”, adjective)), from seofon (“seven”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *septḿ̥ (“seven”)) + niht (“night; day (when computing spans of time)”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *nókʷts (“night”)). Doublet of sevennight.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛnaɪt/, /-nɪt/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛnˌaɪt/
• Hyphenation: sen‧night

Noun

sennight (plural sennights)

1. (archaic or obsolete)
   1. A period of seven consecutive days and nights; a week.

      Synonym: (archaic or obsolete) sevennight

      • c. 1517 (date written; published c. 1545), John Skelton, “Here after Foloweth the Booke Called Elynour Rummynge. The Tunnyng of Elynour Rummyng per Skelton Laureat.”, in Alexander Dyce, editor, The Poetical Works of John Skelton: […], volume I, London: Thomas Rodd, […], published 1843, →OCLC, pages 107–108, lines 394–397:

        I dranke not this sennet / A draught to my pay; / Elynour, I thé pray, / Of thyne ale let vs assay, […]

      • c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 197, column 1:

        Marry he trots hard vvith a yong maid, betvveen the contract of her marriage, and the day it is ſolemnizd: if the interim be but a ſennight, Times pace is ſo hard, that it ſeemes the length of ſeuen yeare.

      • 1894, Kenneth Grahame, “‘Young Adam Cupid’”, in Pagan Papers, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews and John Lane […]; Chicago, Ill.: Stone and Kimball, →OCLC, page 139:

        I was not bit enough to stand up to Edward personally, so I had to console the sufferer by allowing him to grease the wheels of the donkey-cart—a luscious treat that had been specially reserved for me, a sennight past, by the gardener's boy, for putting in a good word on his behalf with the new kitchen-maid.

      • 1948 (1st collected edition 1953), Isaac Asimov, “Two Men and a Peasant”, in Second Foundation, New York, N.Y.: Del Rey, published 2020, →ISBN, part I (Search by the Mule), page 41:

        Old woman, what was it the village Elders said a se'nnight since? Eh? Stir your memory.

   2. (attributively) Preceded by a specified day such as Sunday, today, or yesterday: a week from (either before or after) the specified day.

      Synonym: (archaic or obsolete) sevennight

      • 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter XVIII, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 224:

        It will be in my power to assure him that her ladyship was quite well yesterday se'nnight.

        That is, from a week before yesterday.

      • 1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter XIII, in Emma: […], volume I, London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC, page 244:

        I was snowed up at a friend's house once for a week. Nothing could be pleasanter. I went for only one night, and could not get away till that very day se'nnight.

      • 1803 (date written), [Jane Austen], chapter II, in Northanger Abbey; published in Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion. […], volume I, London: John Murray, […], 20 December 1817 (indicated as 1818), →OCLC, pages 26–27:

        We leave Bath, as she has perhaps told you, on Saturday se'nnight.

      • 1928, Virginia Woolf, chapter 1, in Orlando: A Biography, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Company, →OCLC, page 50:

        As for his marriage with the Lady Margaret, fixed though it was for this day sennight, the thing was so palpably absurd that he scarcely gave it a thought.

2. (obsolete)

   Synonym: (obsolete) sevennight

   1. Preceded by a specified day and come: a week after the specified day.
      • [1741, [Samuel Richardson], “[The Journal Continued.] Monday.”, in Pamela: Or, Virtue Rewarded. […], 3rd edition, volume II, London: […] C[harles] Rivington, […]; and J. Osborn, […], →OCLC, page 153:

        And Mrs. Jevvkes tells me, every one names Thurſday come Sev'nnight for our Nuptials.]

   2. Preceded by a specified day and gone or was: a week before the specified day.
      • 1759 May 24, George Ridpath, “Diary—Volume II”, in James Balfour Paul, editor, Diary of George Ridpath, Minister of Stitchel, 1755–1761 […], Edinburgh: Printed at the University Press by T[homas] & A[rchibald] Constable Ltd. for the Scottish History Society, published 1922, →OCLC, page 248:

        Sir Robert Pringle and John Hunter attended the meeting of Heritors intimated here on Sunday gone a se'enight.

Alternative forms

• se'nnight, se'night

Coordinate terms

• fortnight

Translations

period of seven consecutive days and nights — see week

Further reading

• week on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• sennight in An American Dictionary of the English Language, by Noah Webster, 1828.
• Michael Quinion (created April 25, 1998, last updated May 2, 1998) “Sennight”, in World Wide Words.

Anagrams

• nightens