There is a word that means "the day before yesterday". What is it?

Wow, guys, don’t all speak at once…lol. Um….actually I dunno either. *blank*

Gypzy

There is a word that means "the day before yesterday". What is it?

Hmmm; let me see… today is Monday, so the day before yesterday was Saturday.  Not too difficult a question, after all.   ::)

There’s the word penultimate, the next to last. But my German/English dictionary offers no suggestion for a one-word translation of vorgestern ("before yesterday").

Ilka

Oops. Thought I’d already posted a reply here.
The word is hereyesterday (a corruption of "ere yesterday").
There’s a nice Latin adjective, too: nudiustertian, "pertaining to the day before yesterday".

Grant

[quote author=granthutchison link=board=what;num=1036736018;start=0#4 date=11/11/02 at 12:54:28]Oops. Thought I’d already posted a reply here.
The word is hereyesterday (a corruption of "ere yesterday").
There’s a nice Latin adjective, too: nudiustertian, "pertaining to the day before yesterday".

What’s ere?  And, is that nice adjective truly Latin, or usable in English too?

[quote author=tamisaac link=board=what;num=1036736018;start=0#5 date=11/11/02 at 12:57:09]
What’s ere?  And, is that nice adjective truly Latin, or usable in English too?

Ere is an old word meaning "before" - crops up in Shakespeare a lot.

I wasn’t being clear with my "Latin": I meant to indicate that, in contrast to the Germanic origins of ere, the adjective was an English word of Latin descent. It derives from the Latin phrase nunc dies tertius est, "now is the third day", which reminds us that the Romans didn’t have a zero, and so counted inclusively.

Grant

[quote author=granthutchison link=board=what;num=1036736018;start=0#6 date=11/11/02 at 13:04:04]
Ere is an old word meaning "before" - crops up in Shakespeare a lot.

Ah, I didn’t say I remembered any of my lines as Bottom.  ;)

I wasn’t being clear with my "Latin": I meant to indicate that, in contrast to the Germanic origins of ere, the adjective was an English word of Latin descent.

Can it stand alone, witout the -ian?

It derives from the Latin phrase nunc dies tertius est, "now is the third day", which reminds us that the Romans didn’t have a zero, and so counted inclusively.

???  Like the years?

[quote author=tamisaac link=board=what;num=1036736018;start=0#5 date=11/11/02 at 12:57:09]What’s ere?

"Able was I ere I saw Elba" is a palindrome attributed in jest to Napoleon.

[quote author=tamisaac link=board=what;num=1036736018;start=0#7 date=11/11/02 at 13:10:38]Can it stand alone, witout the -ian?

It’s not mentioned in the OED.

[quote author=tamisaac link=board=what;num=1036736018;start=0#7 date=11/11/02 at 13:10:38] ???  Like the years?

Exactly like the problem with the Year Zero, yes.

Grant

[quote author=granthutchison link=board=what;num=1036736018;start=0#6 date=11/11/02 at 13:04:04]
which reminds us that the Romans didn’t have a zero, and so counted inclusively.

I was wondering why the Bible and Portuguese counted "8 days from now" as "a week from now".

Makes sense.

Thankyou GrantHutchinson. Nudiustertian was precisely the word I was trying to recall. I was pleased to learn the derivation it will make it easier to remember. I will have to check the OED the next chance I get. That usually  is the final arbitrator for me, but in this case it must be that it has appeared in print more than once.

How is nudiustertian pronounced?  (There I was, all ready to give the pronunciation feature of the new dictionary a whirl… and what?  No nudiustertian?   ;D)

I keep trying to pronounce it with an n between the first u and the following d—as in nundiusteritian...

It rolls off my tongue easier that way ... makes me wonder if it was originally there!

[quote author=tamisaac link=board=what;num=1036736018;start=0#12 date=11/12/02 at 08:14:18]How is nudiustertian pronounced?

Good question. The OED provides no pronunciation, and characterizes the word as extremely rare. It does give an intermediate etymology of Latin nudius tertius, however - and from that you could deduce an English pronunciation of:
NOO-dee-us-TERSH-yun

Grant

[quote author=seanmcox link=board=what;num=1036736018;start=0#10 date=11/11/02 at 14:41:15]

I was wondering why the Bible and Portuguese counted "8 days from now" as "a week from now".

Makes sense.

As do the French:  huit jours for a week, or quinze jours (15 days) for two weeks.