What is the Difference Between “Fortnite” and “Fortnight”?

Fortnite is one of the most popular games in the world, but it does not exactly have the same meaning as the term “fortnight.” By the way, what is the difference between “Fortnite” and “Fortnight”? Well, let us talk about that great information here.

Difference Between “Fortnite” and “Fortnight”

Fortnite is an online video game created by Epic Games and released in the year 2017. It is currently a global phenomenon, especially among younger players since it is a free-to-play, easy to get into, and now dominates popular culture. Many in-game references are replicated by the players in real life. Meanwhile, a “fortnight” refers to a period of time equal to fourteen days that will be explained below.

What is a Fortnight?

A fortnight is “a period of two weeks,” which is, “fourteen days and nights.” Here, the number fourteen, is more than another way to gloss how long two weeks is. Actually, it explains that confusing fort- in fortnight— that has nothing to do with army forts or pillow forts. Based on the research, Fortnight comes from the Middle English fourtenight, which is contracted from the Old English fēowertēne niht. We suspect you do not need to be a time-traveling Anglo-Saxon to see how fēowertēne niht means “fourteen nights.”

Also, English has a “one-week” equivalent to fortnight: sennight. By the way, can you guess what the sen- in sennight means? Yeah, that’s right: seven. Sennight, for a “period of seven days and nights,” is archaic, replaced by the word week. However, words like sennight and fortnight appear to be a leftover from ancient Germanic calendars that were known to reckon time not by days, but by nights.

Why is the Fortnite Game Called Fortnite?

Actually, we do not know the origin of the name Fortnite. We get information that there are several components that likely contributed to it. The original game focuses on a world which has been almost entirely consumed by powerful storms. Those storms make monsters known as husks, which are cartoonish, zombie-like creatures who attack the players.

As you can see in the original cinematic trailer below, the players have to reinforce a structure – or build a “fort” – to survive the oncoming hordes of husk monsters who appear when there is a fog or night falls. Thus, in this way, “fort” and “night” are combined into “fortnight.”

However, because the word “fortnight” already exists from the Old English term known as “fēowertyne niht,” that indicate a unit of time equal to 14 days, or 14 nights, Epic Games likely decided that the name must highlight the construction of forts and surviving through the night. Therefore, the title of Fortnite was born.

The use of the word “fortnight” will vary within different contexts. It has been used in distinct situations throughout history. Here are several of the most common uses for the word.

Fortnight in Astronomy

A lunar fortnight within astronomy is considered to be half of a lunar synodic month, which is the period between a full moon and a new moon, as well as the opposite. In this term, a fortnight refers to 14.77 days.

Fortnight in Sports

Lots of sporting events operate within a two-week or around half-month – period of time. For example, in tennis, Wimbledon and other significant tournaments are said to last a fortnight, as long as nothing out of the ordinary happens. Traditionally, the Summer and Winter Olympics also frequently take place over two weeks.

Fortnight in Other languages

A fortnight is able to extend between fourteen and fifteen days depending on the language. Most frequently, it is used in languages in which there is no word to indicate a two-week period of time.

In Welsh, “pythefnos” means 15 nights. In Greek, the term “δεκαπενθήμερο” also accounts for fifteen days. The Hindu calendar has a Sanskrit word recognized as “paksha” to indicate one half of a lunar month, that similar to astrology, is between 14 and 15 solar days.

In many languages, such as Portuguese, Spanish, Galician, Catalan, Italian, French, and Romanian, there are various words to indicate a period of 15 days. Also, there are words which are more commonly used in contemporary languages, such as “bisemanal” in Spanish, “bissemanal” in Portgueuse, “biweekly” in English, “bisetmanal” in Catalan, “bihebdomadaire” in French and “bisettimanale” in Italan.

Popular Uses of Fortnight

Apparently, the term “fortnight” has mostly fallen out of contemporary use within North America in day-to-day conversation and writing. In the Cheers episode “Rich Man, Wood Man”, which aired in the year 1992, Woody uses the expression once returning from a trip to London to denote that he picked up strange habits and sayings that have no place in a blue-collar bar, much to the annoyance of Frasier, Rebeca and Cliff. Also, the word “fortnight” appears once in writer Donald Barthelme’s “Sentence”, which, at 2,569 words, is recognized for being one of the longest sentences in the world.

Modern Uses of Fortnight

In recent years, the word “fortnight” has fallen out of vogue. A quick search in the Worldcat Library system, a network which combines most of the biggest university libraries in the world, reveals that the term “fortnight” is a keyword or subject word. Aside from that, the top 50 relevant findings range in publications from the year 1600 to the early 20 century.

In several cases, the word is demonstrated as relating to sporting events. For instance, there is a promotion for Wimbledon which has the following phrase: “Grass surfaces, Center court, Strawberries and cream.

To understand the shift away from the use of the word “fortnight,” you have to revisit Fortnite, the video game, for a better understanding of the word right now. Over time, the words and symbols are able to develop different meanings.

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