Five-and-twenty thousand = ?

[coolfool]

I'm confused with the following description:

... there reside above five-and-twenty thousand; ... - Page 204, Chapter 22, Book 2, The Travels of Marco Polo 1274-1295, Revised and edited with an Introduction by Manuel Komroff, New York, Printed for the members of The Limited Editions Club 1934

How many people were there?

Thanks a lot.

[Rover_KE]

25,000.

[Barb_D]

Well, actually - more than (above) 25,000. But it's 25 thousand not 5 and 20 thousand (i.e., 20,005).

[Tdol]

It's an old-fashioned form- my father used it, but you don't hear it used much nowadays.

[5jj]

I sometimes catch myself saying 'five-and-twenty past/to ..." for times.but I am 66.

[emsr2d2]

I sometimes catch myself saying 'five-and-twenty past/to ..." for times.but I am 66.

My grandfather always used "five and twenty past/to ..." when giving the time. I don't think I heard him use the construction for anything but telling the time though.

[Barb_D]

I sometimes catch myself saying 'five-and-twenty past/to ..." for times.but I am 66.

Is that six and sixty?

What about four-and-twenty black birds baked in a pie? (And how gross is that?)

[Tdol]

My grandfather always used "five and twenty past/to ..." when giving the time. I don't think I heard him use the construction for anything but telling the time though.

Telling the time is the one I remember most clearly.

[Tdol]

What about four-and-twenty black birds baked in a pie? (And how gross is that?)

It was widespread and, I think, declined to things like the time. We don't eat many blackbird pies now, let alone ones that big.

[SoothingDave]

Is that six and sixty?

What about four-and-twenty black birds baked in a pie? (And how gross is that?)

It's just like chicken pot pie, I imagine.