The Rest Of The Week Historical Importance In Modern And Ancient European Languages
Created | Updated May 28, 2005
Sunday
Sunday, the christian day of rest takes it name not from christianity but fom Ancient Greece and Rome. The Greeks felt that the Sun was extemelly important as it is what gives us life and the Romans adopted this by naming the first day of the seven day week "dies solis".
Monday
After Sunday, it was felt that a day should honour the moon. The English "Monday" derives from the Anglo Saxon word for moon; "monandaeg". Other languages such as French "Lundi" and Latin "luna" have also honoured the Moon for Monday.
Tuesday
The word Tuesday is not named after a planet. The word tuesday derives from the Norse god Tyr or Tiw, planted in the English language by the Germanic Angles and the Saxons who named the day Tiwesdaeg. However before this in Britain, Tuesday had already been named after the Roman god of war, Martius and this name remains in French Spanish and Italian; Mardi, Martes and Martedi.
Wednesday
The word Wednesday in English was named after the Norse god, Odin (also known as woden or wotan) and therfore became Wodensdaeg. The Roman designated the day for the messenger god, Mercury. The name is still surviving in Romanian and French; Miercuri and Mercredi.
Friday
Friday is again derived from a Norse God, Frigga- the wife of Odin and the goddess of marriage and health. The Romans named the day after their goddess of beauty, Venus (The called it, Dies Veneris).
Saturday
Saturday is the only day of the week that has retained its roman origins. It was named after the Roman god of Time and the Harvest, Saturn. The name was changed from the Latin "dies saturni" to "saterdaeg".
Some languages do not hold similar reasons for names of days. In Portugese the names of the week almost literaly translate to First day Second day and so on.
| Portuguese | Meaning |
| segunda-feira | Second |
| terça-feira | Third |
| quarta-feira | Fourth |
| quinta-feira | Fifth |
| sexta-feira | Sixth |
| sabado | Sabath |
| domingo | ------ |
| Russian | Meaning |
| ponedelnik | After "do-nothing" |
| vtornik | Second |
| sreda | Middle |
| chetverg | Fourth |
| pyatnitsa | Fifth |
| subbota | Sabbath |
| voskresenye | Resurrection |
| French | "Planet" |
| Lundi | Moon |
| Mardi | Mars |
| Mercredi | Mercury |
| Jeudi | Jupiter |
| Vendredi | Venus |
| Samedi | Saturn |
| Dimanche | Sun |
