a., sb. (adv.). Forms: see below. [Of this there have been many forms, the earlier reflecting the various types of TENTH, the later the two types of THIRTEEN. In OE. (Anglian *þríteoʓeða, -e, -teʓða) WSax. þríe-, þréotéoða, etc., whence early southern ME. þretteþe. Northern ME. had þrett-, þrittēnd(e from ON. þrettánde. From these arose a. 1400 þrett-, þrittenþ(e, and by metathesis (as in thirteen), ther-, thyr-, thirtenth, and finally in 16th c. thirteenth, as if formed at once from thirteen + -TH2. Cf. in the cognate langs. OFris. threttinde (Du. dertiende), ONG. drittozehanto (Ger. dreizehnte), ON. þrettánde (Sw. trettonde, Da. trettende).]
A. adj. in concord with sb. expressed or implied. 1. The ordinal numeral belonging to the cardinal thirteen: the last of thirteen.
α. 1 þreoteʓþa, þrie-, þreo-, þryteoða, 1–3 þreott-, þrytteoða, 3 þrett-, þritteþe.
a. 900. O. E. Martyrol., 13 March, 38. On þone þreoteʓðan dæʓ þæs monðes.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Matt. xi. 20, margin. On þære þrytteoðan wucan ofer pentecosten.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Hom., II. 520. Paulus is se ðreotteoða ðyses heapes.
c. 1275. Shires & Hundreds, in O. E. Misc., 146. Þe þreotteoþe on lyncholne.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 5933. In þe þritteþe [MS. α þretteþe] ȝer.
β. 3 (Orm.) þrittennde, 4 thritt-, thretend(e, thritteind, thritend, 4–5 þrettend(e.
c. 1200. Ormin, 11062. Itt iss þe þrittende daȝȝ.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 11373 (Cott.). Fra he was born þe dai thritteind. Ibid., 29330 (Cott. Galba). Þe thritend case.
1447. Bokenham, Seyntys (Roxb.), 34. Of Octobyr the threttend day.
γ. 4 þrett-, þrittenþe, þritteneþ, 4–5 threttenethe; 6 threttent.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. II. 268. Þe þrittenþe condicioun.
c. 1420. Chron. Vilod., 2395. Þe threttenethe ȝere.
a. 1425. Cursor M., 22671 (Trin.). Þe þrettenþe day shal be snelle.
1581. N. Burne, Disput., in Cath. Tractates (S.T.S.), 142. Gregorius the threttent quha is nou bischop of Rome.
δ. 5 þirttenth (þirdtenth), thertenth (-tenst), 6 thyrd-, thyr-, thirtenth, 6– thirteenth.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 78 b/2. The thertenst day.
1530. Palsgr. 372/1. Treiziesme, thyrteenth.
1538. Elyot, Terdenus, na, num, the thyrdtenth.
1552. Huloet, Thyrtenth.
1579. Fulke, Heskins’ Parl., 180. The thirteenth Chapter.
1624. Bedell, Lett., i. 42. This thirteenth Article, of the thirteenth Apostle…, it seemes you haue learned.
1711. Lond. Gaz., No. 4903/2. On the Thirteenth the Artillery … was discharg’d.
1759. Walton’s Angler, ii. (ed. 7), 38. The wise Statutes made in the 13th of Edward the First.
1878. Villari, Machiavelli (1898), II, ii. 73. The literature of the thirteenth century.
2. Thirteenth part: one of thirteen equal parts into which anything may be divided.
1790. Burke, Fr. Rev., 178. About a thirteenth part of their clear income.
1857. Miller, Elem. Chem. (1862), III. 157. Exactly twelve thirteenth parts of an equal measure of distilled water.
B. sb. 1. A thirteenth part.
1611. Cotgr., Treziesme, a thirteenth.
Mod. A lunar month is very nearly a thirteenth of a year.
b. Eng. Hist. A thirteenth part of the value of movables, or of the rent of the year, formerly granted or levied as a tax.
[1206–7. Patent Roll 8 John, m. 3 dorso, in Lanc. & Chesh. Rec. Soc. (1893), XXVII. 35. M. CC. vij, Hoc anno assisa de terciodecimo facta est ad opus regis universaliter a clericis et laicis et per vim laicalem.]
1893. J. A. C. Vincent, ibid., 36. The method of collecting this thirteenth is laid down in the king’s letters patent. Every layman to give 12-pence out of every mark’s (13s. 4d.) worth of annual rent, or out of such moveable chattels of like value as he had on the Octaves of the Purification (9 February), being the date of the council.
1874. Stubbs, Const. Hist., I. xiii. 586. The assessment of the thirteenth in A. D. 1207 was … not made by juries, but by the oath of the individual payer taken before the justices; the contribution of the clergy being a matter of special arrangement made by the archdeacons.
2. Music. A note thirteen diatonic degrees above or below a given note (both notes being counted); the interval between, or consonance of, two notes thirteen diatonic degrees apart; a chord containing this interval.
1597. Morley, Introd. Mus., 71. Which distances do make vnperfect consonants?… A third, a sixt, and their eightes: a tenth, a thirteenth [etc.].
1609. Douland, Ornith Microl., 79. An eight doth agree in sound with an vnison,… and a thirteenth with a sixt.
1880. Stainer, Composition, § 14. The third degree of the scale … also forms part of the well-known cadential 64 chord, and dominant thirteenth.
C. adv. Thirteenthly.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 292 b. Thyrtenth, they be mortifyed from all property of wyll.
Hence Thirteenthly adv., in the thirteenth place; also as sb. (nonce use) the thirteenth head or section of a discourse, etc.
a. 1642. Sir W. Monson, Naval Tracts, III. (1704), 322/1. Thirteenthly, They ought to take a yearly account.
1887. J. Service, Life & Recoll. Duguid, iii. 22. Mr. McClumpha … was toilin’ on to his thirteenthly.
1893. Stevenson, Catriona, xvi. Thirteenthly, my brethren,… the law itself must be regarded as a means of grace.
