[Loch-Ruadh] Speaking Forsoothly - Daily Lesson 20
Pádraig Ruad Ó Maolagáin
padraig_ruad at irishbard.org
Tue Oct 17 09:00:13 PDT 2006
Daily Lesson 20
Numbers and Measures - 1
Age: Up to age 20, ages were expressed as we are familiar with them; five
years old, ten years old, fifteen years old. After age 20, however, it
was customary to use the long form; that is, you are five-and-twenty
(25) or eight-and-thirty (38), but you would never use the form
thirty-and-five. This applies not only to people, but also to the age
of objects and to spans of years:
The days of our years are threescore-and-ten.
She hath reached the venerable age of nine-and-fifty.
For three-and-twenty years have we dwelt in this land.
Never express number from 11 to 19 in the form ten-and-number, as this
is a form used when enumerating money. Ten-and-six means 10 shillings 6
pence. Six-and-ten means 6 shillings 10 pence. (More on money in a
future lesson.)
Clock time may be expressed as:
Two o'clock
Two of the clock
Quarter past/half past two
A quarter to three
The second hour past midday
As the day was divided up into watches (generally three eight-hour
watches to a day), time was sometimes referred to by the hour of the watch
(although for this to make sense, it must first be agreed upon when each
watch begins - example: morning or day watch 8:00am, evening watch
4:00pm, and night watch midnight):
The first hour of the morning watch (8:00am)
The third hour of the evening watch (7:00pm)
The last hour of the night watch (7:00am)
Numbers were often written in lower case Roman numerals, with the last "i"
in a number written as a "j", such as vij for 7.
Shakespearian Word/Phrase of the Day:
Plight To pledge, as in giving an assurance
Plight me your word, that this matter shall remain between but the two
of us.
Padraig
--
Nunc est bibendum.
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Politicians prefer unarmed peasants.
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