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Origin and history of twain

twain(n.)

a modern survival of Middle English twein, from Old English twegen "two," masculine nominative and accusative form of twa "two" (fem. and neuter form); see two. It corresponds to Old Frisian twene, Dutch twee, Old High German zwene, Danish tvende.

The English word outlasted the breakdown of gender and survived as a secondary form of two, especially when the numeral follows a noun. Its continuance was aided by use in KJV and the Marriage Service (Matthew xix.5, 41), in poetry (where it is a useful rhyme word), and in oral use, where it may be necessary to be clear that two and not to or too is meant.

In U.S. nautical use as "a depth of two fathoms" from 1799 (as in Mark Twain).

Entries linking to twain

two(num.)

"1 more than one, the number which is one more than one; a symbol representing this number;" Old English twa "two," the feminine and neuter form. The masculine twegen survived as twain.

They are from Proto-Germanic *twa (source also of Old Saxon and Old Frisian twene, twa, Old Norse tveir, tvau, Dutch twee, Old High German zwene, zwo, German zwei, Gothic twai), from PIE *duwo, variant of the root *dwo- "two."

Two cheers for _____, expressing qualified enthusiasm, is recorded by 1951 (in E.M. Forster's title "Two Cheers for Democracy"), based on the traditional three cheers for ______, which is attested from 1751. Two-by-four for a post or other length of wood having a cross-section of 2 inches by 4 inches is by 1884.

Mark

masc. proper name, variant of Marcus (q.v.). Among the top 10 names given to boy babies born in the U.S. between 1955 and 1970.

Mark Twain is the pseudonym of American writer and humorist Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910), who had been a riverboat pilot; he took his pen name from the cry mark twain, the call indicating a depth of two fathoms, from mark (n.1) in a specialized sense of "measured notification (a piece of knotted cloth, etc.) on a lead-line indicating fathoms of depth" (1769) + twain.

*dwo-

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "two."

It might form all or part of: anadiplosis; balance; barouche; between; betwixt; bezel; bi-; binary; bis-; biscuit; combination; combine; deuce; deuterium; Deuteronomy; di- (1) "two, double, twice;" dia-; dichotomy; digraph; dimity; diode; diphthong; diploid; diploma; diplomacy; diplomat; diplomatic; diplodocus; double; doublet; doubloon; doubt; dozen; dual; dubious; duet; duo; duodecimal; duplex; duplicate; duplicity; dyad; epididymis; hendiadys; pinochle; praseodymium; redoubtable; twain; twelfth; twelve; twenty; twi-; twice; twig; twilight; twill; twin; twine; twist; 'twixt; two; twofold; zwieback.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit dvau, Avestan dva, Greek duo, Latin duo, Old Welsh dou, Lithuanian dvi, Old Church Slavonic duva, Old English twa, twegen, German zwei, Gothic twai "two;" first element in Hittite ta-ugash "two years old."