A Conversation for A Chronology of Time

1st day of the week

Post 1

Dinsdale Piranha

My boss insists that the first day of the week is Sunday.

I disagree with this for three reasons:

1. In the Bible it says something along the lines of 'Six days shalt thou labour, and on the seventh shalt thou rest.' Sunday is referred to as the Day of Rest, so it must be the seventh day, not the first.

2. If you ask someone to name the days of the week, odds are they will say 'Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday...'

3. Saturday and Sunday are collectively referred to as the Week-END

The only reason he came up with this, is because our email/calendar software starts the week with Monday (correctly, in my view) and if he wants to create an appointment for Monday, he automatically puts in in the second day from the right (Honestly, we've only been using this software for 6 years). So basically, he wants me to change the default settings for everyone because he can't be arsed to read what it says on the screen.


1st day of the week

Post 2

Peet (the Pedantic Punctuation Policeman, Muse of Lateral Programming Ideas, Eggcups-Spurtle-and-Spoonswinner, BBC Cheese Namer & Zaphodista)

Nope, Dinsdale, in the Christian world the Sunday, while being "God's day of rest", was also the first day of the now-completed world... The weekend can also be thought of as "weekends", with the Saturday being the last day of one week, and the Sunday being the first day of the next. Anyhow, this becomes a moot point if you are Jewish, where Saturday is the "day of rest" (sabbath)...


1st day of the week

Post 3

Miriam

Thank God I didn't give my opinion on what I think is the first day of the week in my article, I just started by naming mondag 'cause I had to start somewhere smiley - smiley

Miriam


How many days in a week?

Post 4

Wand'rin star

Some West African counrtries still have 4 day weeks (so-called "market" weeks) So the first day of their week wanders a bit


1st day of the week

Post 5

Dinsdale Piranha

To add further weight to me not having to do anything to the software: it's business software, and the business week certainly starts on Monday.

Also, God quite clearly states that we should rest on the seventh day, not the first day.


1st day of the week

Post 6

Is mise Duncan

The 1st day of the week is an "international" setting type variance, just like number formats and currency symbols.
A number of countries and standards bodies have defined it but of course, there are actually 2 standards.
From the localisation we've done here, US, England and Italy start the week on a Monday but France and Poland start the week on Sunday.

An even more confusing difference is "which week is the first week of the year?" which can be the week containing Jan 1, the week with the first Monday after Jan 1 or the week with the first Sunday after Jan 1. At least this keeps us programmers on our toes (and in the money) - Vive la difference, I say smiley - winkeye


1st day of the week

Post 7

Dinsdale Piranha

Ooh, that's a good one. I have no idea what to say on the subject.

Another one I have heard cause confusion is the phrase 'Next week-end', which I have heard defined as 'The Saturday and Sunday that arrives first after today', or 'the week-end that happens after next week'.

Just read that to myself, and it doesn't look very readable. Try again. OK, today is Thursday 17th August, so is next week-end Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th, or is it Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th?


1st day of the week

Post 8

Is mise Duncan

Unless you are in a weekend, "this weekend" refers to the one just coming up and "next weekend" is also the one just coming up. Unfortunately there's no equivalent of the "Friday week" construct, except perhaps "the weekend after next"?


1st day of the week

Post 9

Wand'rin star

I disagree (of course) After Wednesday next weekend means the one _after_ this one. Works the same way backwards as well. eg on Monday 21st you could say "We went walking this weekend" Were you to say (sorry, felt like a full-blown subjunctive) "We went walking last weekend" you would be referring to 12th/13th.


1st day of the week

Post 10

Is mise Duncan

Nope - I wouldn't say "we went walking last weekend" meaning the 12/13th because, as any fool knows, it was raining on the 12th/13th.

Here's the test-
(a)The date of last weekend is...
(b)The date of next weekend is...
(c)The date of this weekend is...

For me, (b) = (c) unless you are in a weekend _or_ have modified the phrase with a tense in which case that tense modification takes pecendence. If someone was to say to me "we went walking at the weekend" that would be (a), "we're going walking at the weekend" = (b),(c).

If you are _in_ a weekend then (b) > (c) and "we're going walking at the weekend " means (b) only.


1st day of the week

Post 11

Miriam

Wow! This is intensely confusing smiley - smiley
I never quite understood what "every other week" means, anybody care to explain? smiley - smiley


1st day of the week

Post 12

Is mise Duncan

"Every other x" means (to me, anyway) every alternate x.

Every other week means, e.g. week 1, week 3, week 5 etc.

It can however mean " all x but this one"...so you need more context.
If there is a subject meaning "this one" in the sentence then this latter meaning should be applied.



1st day of the week

Post 13

Sharron aka FartFar The Priest(#106383)

Of course the actual origins of the names of the days..

Egyptians thought that the most distant planet( and that there were only 5 of them) was Saturn. They thought that the order of closer planets was Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury and closest, the Moon. So they believed that the first hour was ruled by Saturn, the second by Jupiter and so on.

Egyptians also believed that after each seven hours the order in which these objects were to be worshiped was repeated, and it started again with Saturn.
According to ancient Egyptians, the planet that ruled the first hour also governed the entire twenty-four hour period, and gave its name to that day. The first (and also the 8th, 15th and 22nd) hours of the first day were sacred to Saturn, the 23rd to Jupiter, the 24th to Mars and the first hour of the next day to the Sun. Therefore, they believed that the first day was ruled by and named after Saturn and the second was ruled by (and named after) the Sun.

The origins of the names of the days
The names of the days are in some cases derived from Teutonic deities or, such as in Romance languages, from Roman deities. The early Romans, around the first century, used Saturday as the first day of the week. As the worshipping of the Sun increased, the Sun's day (Sunday) advanced from position of the second day to the first day of the week (and saturday became the seventh day).

Sunday.
The name comes from the Latin dies solis, meaning "sun's day": the name of a pagan Roman holiday. It is also called Dominica (Latin), the Day of God. The Romance languages, languages derived from the ancient Latin language (such as French, Spanish, and Italian), retain the root.
French: dimanche; Italian: domenica; Spanish: domingo
German: Sonntag; Dutch: zondag. [both: 'sun-day']


Monday
The name comes from the Anglo-Saxon monandaeg, "the moon's day". This second day was sacred to the goddess of the moon.
French: lundi; Italian: lunedi. Spanish: lunes. [from Luna, "Moon"]
German: Montag; Dutch: maandag. [both: 'moon-day']


Tuesday
This day was named after the Norse god Tyr. The Romans named this day after their war-god Mars: dies Martis.
French: mardi; Italian: martedi; Spanish: martes.
The Germans call Diensdag (meaning "Assembly Day"), in The Netherlands it is known as dinsdag, in Danmark as tirsdag and in Sweden tisdag.


Wednesday
The day named to honor Wodan (Odin).
The Romans called it dies Mercurii, after their god Mercury.
French: mercredi; Italian: mercoledi; Spanish: miércoles.
German: Mittwoch; Dutch: woensdag.


Thursday
The day named after the Norse god Thor. In the Norse languages this day is called Torsdag.
The Romans named this day dies Jovis ("Jove's Day"), after Jove or Jupiter, their most important god.
French: jeudi; Italian: giovedi; Spanish: el jueves.
German: Donnerstag; Dutch. donderdag. [both "thunder day"]


Friday
The day in honor of the Norse goddess Frigg.
In Old High German this day was called frigedag.
To the Romans this day was sacred to the goddess Venus, and was known as dies veneris.
French: vendredi; Italian: venerdi; Spanish: viernes.
German: Freitag ; Dutch: vrijdag.


Saturday
This day was called dies Saturni, "Saturn's Day", by the ancient Romans in honor of Saturn. In Anglo-Saxon: sater daeg.
French: samedi; Italian: sabato; Spanish: el sábádo.
German: Samstag; Dutch: zaterdag.
Sweden: Lördag, and in Danmark and Norway Lørdag ("washing day").




1st day of the week

Post 14

Is mise Duncan

brilliant post - could you turn it into a guide entry?
(I'll give you a hand if you need it, but you seem to be well up to speed on this anyway).


1st day of the week

Post 15

Miriam

You don't actually speak all those languages, do you?!


1st day of the week

Post 16

Wand'rin star

Only once a week


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