Fortnight - in Other Languages

In Other Languages

In many languages, there is no single word for a two-week period and the equivalents of "two weeks" or "14 days" have to be used. In many romance languages, there are the terms quincena (or quince días) in Spanish and Galician, cwindexéna (Venetian), quindicina Italian, quinzena (Portuguese and Catalan), and quinzaine (French), all meaning "15 days" (because of inclusive counting); in Italian is also in use the word "bisettimanale" with the same meaning of fortnightly. Similarly, in Greek, the term δεκαπενθήμερο (dekapenthímero), meaning "15 days", is also used. However in Hebrew, the single-word (shvu′ayim) שבועים means exactly "two weeks". The Hindu calendar uses the Sanskrit word "paksha" to mean one half of a lunar month, which is between 14 and 15 solar days. In Welsh, the term pythefnos, meaning "15 nights", is used instead. This is in keeping with the Welsh term for a week, which is wythnos ("eight nights"). In Irish, the term "coicís" has the same meaning as fortnight.