hebdomadal

English

WOTD – 13 August 2011

Etymology

From Latin hebdomadālis. According to The Poly-Olbion Project, coined by John Selden in 1612.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hɛbˈdɒmədəl/

• Audio (UK)

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Adjective

hebdomadal

1. (obsolete) Lasting seven days.
   • 1612, [John Selden], “The eleuenth Song. Illustrations.”, in Michael Drayton, edited by [John Selden], Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts, Riuers, Mountaines, Forests, and Other Parts of this Renowned Isle of Great Britaine, […], London: […] H[umphrey] L[ownes] for Mathew Lownes; I. Browne; I. Helme; I. Busbie, published 1613, →OCLC, page 184:

     At the right ſide of any of the Baſes begin your account, from that to the oppoſitly noted Planet, thence to his oppoſite, and ſo ſhall you find a continued courſe in that Order (grounded perhaps among the Ancients vpon myſteries of number, and interchanged gouernment by thoſe ſuperior bodies ouer this habitable Orb) which ſome haue ſweated at, in inquiry of Proportions, Muſique diſtances, & refer’d it to Planetary howrs: wheras They (the very name of Houre for a XXIIII. part of a day, being vnuſuall till about the Peloponeſiaque warre) had their originall of later time, then this Hebdomadall account, whence the Hourely from the morning of euery day had his breeding, and not the other from this, as Pretending & Vulgar Aſtrologers receiue in ſuppoſition.

2. Weekly, occurring once a week.
   • 1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter IV, in Rob Roy. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page 71:

     The wits and humourists, the distinguished worthies of the town or village, the apothecary, the attorney, even the curate himself, did not disdain to partake of this hebdomadal festivity.

   • c. 1909, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], “Letter II”, in Bernard DeVoto, editor, Letters from the Earth, New York, N.Y., Evanston, Ill.: Harper & Row, published 1962, →LCCN, page 12:

     They quickly weary of this brief hebdomadal Sabbath here, yet they long for that eternal one; they dream of it, they talk about it, they think they think they are going to enjoy it—with all their simple hearts they think they think they are going to be happy in it!

Derived terms

• hebdomadally (adv)
• Hebdomadal Council

Translations

occurring once a week — see weekly

References

• The Poly-Olbion Project