The Anglo-Saxons Counted Their Age in Winters
Winter is the coldest season. Old English measured years in winters rather than summers, which is why old poetry speaks of a man of forty winters.
Winter is the coldest season of the year. Old English counted years in winters, not summers: a man of forty winters was forty years old, and the habit says something plain about which season people noticed. Old Norse did the same, and the phrase survives in poetry and in Shakespeare. The word's origin is uncertain, possibly from a root meaning wet.
- The cold season. *A hard winter.*
- Wintry — cold and bleak. *A wintry morning.*
- Overwinter — to survive the winter. *The birds overwinter here.*
- Nuclear winter — a hypothetical cooling after war. *The nuclear winter theory.*
- Winter of discontent — a period of trouble. *The winter of discontent.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | winter | A long winter. |
| Plural | winters | Two winters. |
| Adjective | wintry | Wintry showers. |
| Verb | winter | They winter abroad. |
| Compound | midwinter | Midwinter's day. |
- The winter was long and wet.The season.
- A man of forty winters.Old counting.
- Now is the winter of our discontent.Shakespeare, Richard III.
Winter phrases
- Winter of discontent — from Shakespeare, applied to Britain in 1978 and 1979
- Nuclear winter — coined in the 1980s for the aftermath of atomic war
- Winter fuel payment — a British benefit for older people
- Winter sports — skiing, skating and the rest
- Overwinter — a useful verb for plants, animals and people
Old English *winter*, from Proto-Germanic *wintruz*, possibly from a root meaning wet. Related forms appear across the Germanic languages.
Why did English count years in winters?
Because winter was the season that defined survival. Old English and Old Norse both used it as the unit of a year.
Where does winter of discontent come from?
The opening line of Shakespeare's Richard III. Journalists applied it to British industrial disputes in 1978 and 1979.