What does 'se'nnight' mean

[AllanUK]

An ancestors death was reported in a newspaper published 2 February 1821 (a Friday) and reads:

'At Pinchbeck, on Wednesday se'nnight, Mr Morphat, farmer, aged 83'

Any idea what 'se'nnight' means?

[JenB]

 It's an abbreviation for 'seven nights' i.e. a week.
So in this context it would be a long way round of saying a week last Wednesday.

[ShaunJ]

Se'nnight = Seven nights = a week

Its like fortnight ( fourteen nights).

So Wednesday se'nnight = Wednesday last week

[bearkat]

I like the word se'nnight.  Let's mount a campaign to bring it back into fashion (I can see that week is easier to say though).

[Zaphod99]

We've never stopped using it! We often get asked about it.

Mrs Zaph

[AllanUK]

Thank you everyone -- it's plain reading now that you explain it 

[Top-of-the-hill]

  I wonder why we hung on to fortnight, but stopped using sennight?

[DianaCanada]

  I wonder why we hung on to fortnight, but stopped using sennight?

Language is so interesting, why some words and expressions last and others don’t.  Fortnight is not used over here, but other things have hung on in North America that long ago died out in the UK, such as “gotten”.  I sometimes heard “boughten” when I was young, but that seems to have disappeared.

[Top-of-the-hill]

  I think "gotten" may be creeping back over here, which I have no problem with. (I have plenty of other language bugbears, but that is not one of them. And my bugbears are mainly not American!)