forty etymology

Etymology:

The word "forty" comes from the Old English word "feowertig," which is a compound of the words "feower" (meaning "four") and "tig" (meaning "ten"). The same root can also be seen in the word "forty days" (which refers to the period of time from Easter to Ascension Day, which is 40 days), in "fourscore" (meaning "eighty"), and in the name of the goddess Frigga (who was associated with the number 40).

Meaning:

The word "forty" means the number 40. It is often used to describe a large or indeterminate number of something, or to refer to a specific period of time, such as the forty days of Lent.

Origin:

The origin of the word "forty" can be traced back to the Proto-Germanic language, from which Old English and many other Germanic languages are descended. In Proto-Germanic, the word for "forty" was "*feurtiguz," which is thought to have originated from an even earlier Indo-European root meaning "four." The word "forty" has been in use in English for over 1,000 years.

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