Three-And-Twenty

Numbers such as "three-and-twenty" are frequently found in Jane Austen's novels (1). It seems a notation similar to German's ("drei ... humour, reserve,(2) and caprice, that the experience of three-and-twenty years had been insufficient to make his wife understand his character".

It's a tough idea to look up, seeing as how there are 72 different numbers of that form (one-and-forty, two-and-forty, etc.) I just had a look at the archives because I thought that one of the times this had come up before, someone found a good usage paragraph in a dictionary, but I don't see it. What I saw is that these this topic gets merged right in with "how to tell time" and "unnecessary use of 'and' in numbers" and this group can talk endlessly about those things, let me tell you.
Anyway, I suggest you look at the archives yourself, searching for posts that contain both "one and twenty" and "twenty-one". Probably "five and twenty" and "twenty-five" would work as well, because it brings in the telling-time aspect.
I took at quick look at some of the searchable databases. Rhymezone shows that Shakespeare used "one and twenty" (no hyphens) three times, and "twenty-one" (with hyphen) once.
Google-based searches adjust for hyphens. Mastertexts.com (mostly 19th c.) found
"one and twenty" 37
"twenty-one" 72
Literaturepost.com, a similar but bigger collection, found

"one and twenty" 48
"twenty-one" 232
As usual, there are some false hits (like "twenty-ONE AND TWENTY-two"). But not enough to sway the count much.
Jane Austen wrote earlier in the 19th century than most of the other authors listed. I think these numbers say that both uses were common during that century, but "twenty-one" was on the rise.

Best Donna Richoux

Numbers such as "three-and-twenty" are frequently found in Jane Austen's novels (1). It seems a notation similar to German's ("drei und zwanzig", right?).

Yes.

I would be interested to know from when it dates as well as when it ceased to be used.

Hard to look up, but my understanding is that three-and-twenty is the older form, and twenty-three is an innovation due to the influence of figure writing. The older form survived longest in referring to people's ages. Thus, "four-and-twenty blackbirds" is pretty old, whereas Housman's "When I was one-and-twenty" is at most mildly conservative.

Joe Fineman joe (Email Removed)

I tend to believe that when Jane Austen says
"three-and-twenty" it's a stylistic flourish making use of a form that she knows is somewhat archaic.

Yes. Hard to look up, but my understanding is that ... Housman's "When I was one-and-twenty" is at most mildly conservative.

I tend to believe that when Jane Austen says "three-and-twenty" it's a stylistic flourish making use of a form that she knows is somewhat archaic.

So that would mean she would ordinarily use the modern form, right? Unless she had reason to sound constantly archaic, such as if she was writing medieval adventures - which she was not.
Anyway, it's not what I find my searching Mastertexts.com for several combinations in her work. The ratio of her use of the long form to the modern form is about 4:1 (data below).
I think Austen's normal language is* increasingly archaic to *us. She had more than one way of saying numbers (she does use both) and since then, one of those ways has gone out of fashion.
FORM OF "ONE AND TWENTY" IN AUSTEN
Emma Jane Fairfax ... She had long resolved that one-and-twenty should be the period.
Mansfield Park My plan was laid at Westminster, a little altered, perhaps, at Cambridge, and at one-and-twenty executed. ...

Emma ... and I do not perceive why I should be more in want of employment at forty or fifty than one-and-twenty. ...

Persuasion What is her age? Forty?". "No, sir, she is not one-and-thirty; but I do not think I can put off my engagement, because

Emma ... she replied "and no doubt you were much my superior in judgement at that period of our lives; but does not the lapse of one-and-twenty years ...
Mansfield Park - ... If ever there was a perfect beauty afloat, she is one; and there she lays at Spithead, and anybody in England would take her for an eight-and-twenty ...
Persuasion - ... She had been solicited, when about two-and-twenty, to change her name, by the young man, who not long afterwards found a more willing mind in her ...
Pride and Prejudice "You cannot be more than twenty, I am sure, therefore you need not conceal your age.". "I am not one and twenty.".

Persuasion ... "The notions of a young man of one or two and twenty," said he, "as to what is necessary in manners to make him quite ...
Sense and Sensibility ... in spite of his being in the opinion of Marianne and Margaret an absolute old bachelor, for he was on the wrong side of five and thirty; but though ...
Sense and Sensibility ... She saw it with concern; for what could a silent man of five and thirty hope, when opposed to a very lively one of five and twenty ...
Persuasion ... He had frequently observed, as he walked, that one handsome face would be followed by thirty, or five-and-thirty frights; and once, as he had stood ...
THE MODERN FORM, "TWENTY-ONE"
Emma ... with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in ...
Persuasion ... Lady Russell might have asked yet for something more, while Anne was nineteen, she would have rejoiced to see her at twenty-two so respectably ...
Sense and Sensibility ... He may live twenty years longer. But thirty-five has nothing to do with matrimony.". ...

Best Donna Richoux

I took at quick look at some of the searchable databases. Rhymezone shows that Shakespeare used "one and twenty" (no ... 232 As usual, there are some false hits (like "twenty-ONE AND TWENTY-two"). But not enough to sway the count much.

And seven and ten,
(but note the comma)
Jan

"Taking tree as the subject to reason about,
A convenient number to state
We add Seven, and Ten, and then multiply out
By One Thousand diminished by Eight.
"The result we proceed to divide, as you see,
By Nine Hundred and Ninety Two:
Then subtract Seventeen, and the answer must be
Exactly and perfectly true.

"Taking tree as the subject to reason about, A convenient number to state We add Seven, and Ten, and then ... you see, By Nine Hundred and Ninety Two: Then subtract Seventeen, and the answer must be Exactly and perfectly true.

Oh, whenever the Emperor
Got into a temper, or
Felt himself sulky or sad,
He would murmur and murmur,
Until he felt firmer,
This curious rhyme which he had:
Eight eights are sixty-four;
Multiply by seven.
When it's done,
Carry one,
And take away eleven.
Nine nines are eighty-one;
Multiply by three.
If it's more,
Carry four,
And then it's time for tea.
(The Emperor's Rhyme in Now We Are Six , A.A. Milne)

Oh, whenever the Emperor Got into a temper, or Felt himself sulky or sad, He would murmur and murmur, Until ... Carry four, And then it's time for tea. (The Emperor's Rhyme in Now We Are Six , A.A. Milne)

I suppose with tea the Emperor will have four and twenty blackbirds.

I tend to believe that when Jane Austen says "three-and-twenty" it's a stylistic flourish making use of a form that she knows is somewhat archaic.

So that would mean she would ordinarily use the modern form, right? Unless she had reason to sound constantly archaic, such as if she was writing medieval adventures - which she was not.

Maybe rather than wanting to sound archaic, she may have wanted to convey a sense of intimacy with a reader's probable recollection of quaint, traditional uses. When I was a teenager I often tried to emulate Micawber.

Anyway, it's not what I find my searching Mastertexts.com for several combinations in her work. The ratio of her use of the long form to the modern form is about 4:1 (data below). I think Austen's normal language is* increasingly archaic to *us.

Yes, in reading her novels I've been more than once struck by strange meanings she gives to words. In particular I recall "acquaintance" meaning the group of people one socializes with, but there were others.
An especially striking example is right at the beginning of one of her novels where she mentions young girls being "screwed out of" something or other.
Okay, Google now tells me that I commented on this in March
1995 (Message-ID: (Email Removed)), saying

One of the fascinating things about reading Jane
Austen's books lies in observing the changes that have taken place in English usage since her day. An
amusing example of this is near the beginning of her novel Emma . She refers to schools where "young
ladies for enormous pay might be screwed out of
health and into vanity". I am fairly certain that this statement would have been interpreted differently in Miss Austen's day than it is likely to be now.

She had more than one way of saying numbers (she does use both) and since then, one of those ways has gone out of fashion.

(Numerous examples redd with interest and omitted)

I wonder how the writings of some of Jane Austen's contemporaries would compare with hers in regard to the use of forms like "one and twenty".
Looking here and there, I find that the following people were either contemporary to her or a generation or so before or after (she lived 1775–1817):
Marquis de Sade (1740-1814)
Henry Fielding 1707-1754
Wordsworth, William, 1770–1850
Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 1797–1851
Wollstonecraft, Mary , 1759–97
One source mentions Jane Austen's reading the works of the following as a girl:
Scott, Sir Walter, 1771–1832
Laurence Sterne, 1713-68
What other well-known (except to me) contemporaries did she have?