Life begins at forty
If a baby is carried to full term, it has been 40 weeks in development, so in that sense, life (outside the womb) really does begin at 40.
Forty can be significant for people taking examinations, when it may be the pass mark, and denote the difference between success and failure.
It may be even more important to the workforce, when a 40-hour week can be standard, though it may vary between 37.5 and 40 hours. Shift workers usually work a 40-hour shift.
In tennis, 40 indicates the third point won in a game. Athletes and dancers reaching the age of 40 used to be regarded as veterans, ready to retire. In modern times players at the top of their game are seen as elite performers.
Minus 40 degrees is the point at which Fahrenheit and Celsius scales are exactly equal.
In religion, 40 frequently represents a time of tribulation or preparation. Noah’s flood lasted 40 days. Moses fasted for 40 days, as did Jesus, while the Israelites wandered the desert for 40 years. Many Christians fast or abstain from luxuries for the 40 days of Lent.
In Islam, 40 symbolises spiritual growth. The prophet Muhammad experienced his first revelation when he was 40, the age of full maturity and strength. The baby in the womb develops in 40-day stages before its soul is breathed into it.
In the 14th century, during the Bubonic Plague, ships were held in port for 40 days before any crew members or passengers could disembark. This was to ensure that the danger of passing on the disease had been overcome. The 40-day period, still observed today in cases of communicable disease, is called quarantine, deriving from quaranta, the Italian for 40. Emerging from quarantine is like a return to life, another starting from 40.
The Roaring Forties are westerly winds blowing strongly and persistently in the Southern Hemisphere, causing huge swells, because there are no landmasses to interrupt them. Merchantmen used them in the 18th and 19th centuries to speed their journeys through latitudes 40˚ and 50˚ between Europe and Australasia. On their return journeys, they used the Furious Fifties!
Then I am just a wee little one.. :) Such an interesting post. I learnt a few things I didn't know.
ReplyDeleteNow, of course, the saying is 'Sixty is the new forty.' Whatever next?
DeleteIf life begins at 40 then I am only 33, ha ha.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea so many things were related to the number 40, this is all very interesting, thank you. But 40 as a pass mark? For exams? Never in all my schooling years it was 50 and that was just barely enough to pass a child to the next grade, I remember my sister taking two years per grade (born slightly brain damaged) until she reached school leaving age (14 back then) in the year she was to begin grade 6 and mum didn't let her go back to school. I was also beginning grade 6 that year at age 10.
40 has been the pass mark all my life. Children aren't kept back but just keep on moving up. I'm not sure how helpful that is.
DeleteMore interesting forties.
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DeleteHere in my part of Germany, in Swabian dialect we say that Swabians only become clever/mature/intelligent at 40. (There is no literal translation, as is often the case with dialect sayings, but I guess you get the idea.)
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that 40 should be the age chosen for maturity. Why not 35 or 50?
DeleteI think it takes until 40 or so for a lot of people to grow up. Of course, some folks never do. I count myself among them.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
Some people are born old, others never quite cotton on to adulting!
DeleteYou are quite right about the length of quarantine, wandering the desert for 40 years and the latitude of Australia. But we have a problem about "Life beginning at forty". The eyesight dims, the golf score goes up, skin marks appear, the ankles are weaker and the arthritis may make its mark.
ReplyDeletePeople at 40 now are very different to people at 40 decades or centuries ago. Better health, better living conditions, better diet - it's not true for everyone, of course.
DeleteAn interesting take on 40.
ReplyDeleteThere have to be some advantages to growing older . . .
ReplyDeleteIt is a very shocking milestone to discover that you have 40 year old children!
ReplyDeleteIt is. Even more shocking when they're approaching 60!
DeleteFascinating! Pardon me while I get my 40 winks :)
ReplyDeleteEnjoy!
DeleteFascinating facts as always. Forty appears a few times in the Hebrew bible. Did they see it as a generation? For the flood it rained forty days and night and Noah waited 40 days for the tops of mountains to be seen.
ReplyDeleteI like the Celtic numbers, three which was so important, seven and nine. All odd. But we change the significance of numbers to suit the age, I had a 21st party (coming of age) now its 18 years old.
I've always favoured odd numbers - I think 7 is my favourite, no reason.
DeleteThat rather interesting how significant the number 40 is.
ReplyDeleteIt's surprising how often it crops up.
DeleteAnd I sometimes take forty winks, too.
ReplyDeleteIt's good for the memory, apparently.
DeleteFor me, having my one and only pregnancy at the age of 40 resulting in my beautiful daughter, has a very special meaning for me.
ReplyDeleteI can understand that.
ReplyDeleteGoodness!
ReplyDeleteI had no idea so many things are/have been related to the number 40,
What an interesting read . . . thank you.
All the best Jan
It is quite surprising, isn't it?
Deleteyou know I was thinking about 40 in the Bible just last week. It means something because it is always used. I'll need to study it more now. Thanks for sharing these interesting facts.
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DeleteI can still remember walking with my parents and my dad telling my mother that life begins at 40. I must have been 7, almost 8. I don't know why I have always remembered that moment. I can almost describe approximately where we were on that walk although I have no idea why were were there. We were walking home from somewhere.
ReplyDeleteFascinating. Maybe your mother's birthday was approaching.
DeleteI always hear people say they didn't grow up until they hit forty.
ReplyDeleteSome don't, even then!
DeleteAnother magic number x
ReplyDeleteAlison in Devon x
😃
DeleteYes, lots of 40s in the Greek Orthodox Church. 40 days of fasting, 40 days in the desert and even back when I had my kids women were supposed to stay inside with the babes for 40 days. People didn't want them visiting them because it was said they'd bring bad luck, woodworm in the furniture.
ReplyDeleteThe first big memorial service after death is at 40 days. There's a smaller memorial, close family only, after 9 days
And more
Old traditions sometimes don't make much sense. Others are for health purposes.
ReplyDeleteSuch an enlightening post. Thank you for this.
ReplyDelete40 is a good round number!
ReplyDeletel the things I didn't know about 40. Interesting.
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DeleteI'm familiar with the number 40 being used in various biblical contexts, but it has never really occurred to me to compare that to some of the other uses you mention. Interesting. (Makes me wonder "which 40 came first"...)
ReplyDeleteI wonder . . .
DeleteThanks for the education. I thought my life started in my 20s. Not sure what's happening in my current 70s! Linda in Kansas
ReplyDeleteEvery day's a surprise!
DeleteI wonder if "Life begins at 40" became popular back when people had children early and they were ready to leave home when Mom and Dad were four decades old?
ReplyDeleteGood thought. So many don't have children until their forties now.
DeleteI had recently read an article about the importance of the number 40 in our culture (including in the Bible) but the added facts you supplied had me wondering, for example, how people came up with 40 days as the correct time to be quarantined - perhaps from experience?
ReplyDeleteI don't know. I shall have to look . . .
DeleteNicely done - a lot of research went into that collection of 40s
ReplyDeleteThe Furious Fifties (and Screaming Sixties) amused me - I'd never heard of them before.
DeleteThis was a fun post.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteI never realised how many meanings and connections the number forty carries across history, science, religion, and everyday life. It’s fascinating how one number can represent challenge, growth, change, and even new beginnings in so many different cultures.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting that it crossed so many cultures.
DeleteOh, now I can say I'm in my furious fifties. I'm 56. lol
ReplyDeleteLOL!!
Delete...and then there's the back 40 of which I believe I posted a few years back. ;-)
ReplyDeleteWouldn't we all like a nice 'back 40?'
DeleteInteresting about the number 40, I hope to live at least 2×40 years, if I'm lucky maybe there will be an extra 40:2.
ReplyDeleteLive well, live healthily, and who knows?
DeleteThat is a lot of interesting things about 40!
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteGood timing for your post. Just happened to be re-reading (for the umpteenth time) another Patrick O'Brian novel where the roaring forties are featured.
ReplyDeleteThe stories that make the blood race!
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