Here’s a pop quiz for grammar brainiacs:
Spell the number ’40’:
a. fourty
b. forty
c. foughty
d. forety
If you answered (b), give yourself a pat on the back. If you answered (a), (c) or (d) smack yourself upside the head.
We have four, fourth and fourteen. Understandable. But forty? Where did the ‘u’ go? Why is forty not spelt fourty?
What is wrong with the spelling of numbers today?
Mathematics is founded on rules. Spelling, not so much. It’s one thing to use numbers, another thing to spell them.
These days, rules of grammar are better defined than they were centuries ago, but they are still confusing and often misunderstood. This is made worse by words that appear to be incorrect, even when spelt correctly, such as ‘forty’.
We can all count to ten and spell the numbers along the way. Well, most of us anyway. But why does the spelling and in some cases, the entire word, change when we get into variations. I can understand thirteen, deriving from third and fifteen deriving from fifth, but what’s with eleven and twelve?
Why don’t we have tenty-one, tenty-two, or eleventy-one, eleventy-two for the teens. Why ‘-teen’, when we have twenty, twenty-one and thirty, thirty-one etc?
Sadly, it is because English is a mongrel language. It is a combination of many other modern and ancient languages, including Old English, Old Norse, Latin, German, French, Arabic, Greek and so on.
Here’s a little history behind some of the weird variations in the spelling of numbers.
Eleven
Derived from the Old English word endleofan, which literally means ‘one left’, as in ‘over ten’ there is one left.
Twelve
We can see an obvious relationship to the word ‘two’, however, what’s with the ‘elve’.
The Middle English word ‘twelve‘ is derived from the Old English ‘twelfe‘, literally meaning (ten and) ‘two leave’.
The -teens
The teens are a little easier to understand, although some parents of adolescents might disagree.
The suffix ‘-teen’ is quite obviously a derivative of the word ‘ten’. In Middle and Old English the suffix was ‘-tēne’, which was a combining form of the word ten. In this case, combining variations of three, four, five to form thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, and so on.
Forty
We can see the word that forty is derived from, but why is it spelt ‘forty’ and not ‘fourty’?
Some words are influenced by geopolitical factors, such as favour/favor in which British English includes a ‘u’ and American English eliminates the ‘u’. However, it doesn’t matter what side of the Atlantic you’re on: forty is spelt ‘forty’, not ‘fourty’.
Forty is derived from the Old English word ‘fēowertig‘. The suffix ‘-tig‘ literally means ‘group of ten’.
Now for the big reveal as to why ‘forty’ is not spelt ‘fourty’.
Drumroll …………
Answer: Because.
That’s it really. In a nut-shell, the reason forty is not spelt ‘fourty’ is because.
There is no grammatical reason for forty to not contain a ‘u’. Centuries ago, ‘fourty’ was common, however convenience, laziness and just a general lack of consistency, resulted in the dropping of the ‘u’ and ‘forty’ becoming the accepted spelling. One of English’s many quirks is that there is no consistency in the spelling of words derived from the same root. Perhaps in centuries to come, ‘fourth’ will become ‘forth’ or ‘four’ will become ‘for’, or maybe ‘forty’ will return to its roots and be spelt ‘fourty’.
Fifty
If this was a new word it would probably be spelt fivety or fivty. However, it is derived from the Old English word ‘fiftig‘. While the suffix ‘-tig’ (remember ‘group of ten’) evolved to ‘-ty’, the spelling of the morpheme ‘fif’ remained unchanged but retained the original meaning, ‘five’.
Hopefully, these explanations have provided a small amount of etymological enlightenment to your mathematical ponderings.
If you want consistency and common sense, become a mathematician.
If you thrive on inconsistency, anarchy and answers that end in ‘because’, major in English.
Transatlantic Disclaimer
Throughout this article, I’ve used the word ‘spelt’ rather than ‘spelled’. Some Grammar Nazis might correctly point out that spelt is a type of grain and therefore ‘spelled’ is correct when referring to spelling. This holds true for American English, BUT, in British English (which technically is English English and therefore the correct version) it is common to use the word ‘spelt’.
Panda’s Word of the Day is based in the former British colony of Australia, which still officially speaks British English, so ‘spelt’ is used correctly.