There are several theories about the origin of the word Fortnite. At the moment, the game developers have not made public which is the most accurate, or why they came up with this name, so we will now detail the existing theories.
It means 14 nights
The most widespread theory is that the word Fortnite has its origin in a very similar English word: fortnight. This word has its origin in Old English and means "14 nights", or in other words, two weeks.
It is worth noting that the first Fortnite game mode was Save the World, a mode where we must survive a zombie apocalypse for 14 days; a more than remarkable coincidence.
Strong and night
The pronunciation of Fortnite is exactly the same as two words:
- Fort (strong)
- Night
The fact that it is spelled slightly differently from the above-mentioned word (fortnight) lends strength to this argument.
Again, the relationship of these two words to the game is found in the Save the World mode, the first game mode released. In this mode, we must build forts and all the activity takes place at night.
That said, even the creators of Fortnite might have been inspired by this coincidence (that the words fortnight, fort, and night, are related to the game) to name it. In this case, both theories would be correct.
Knights protectors of the world
The last of the theories, although perhaps less likely, is the one that defends that the word Fortnite has its origin in the English word knight. In turn, the origin of knights dates back to the time when the nobility required strong and upright people to defend lands or areas.
In a way, our goal in Fortnite: Save the World, is precisely that, to defend the world, so we could consider our character as a knight.
However, it should be noted that in Fortnite we mostly use firearms, which were not present in medieval times, so this theory is probably the least likely of the three.
