h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Origins of the Days of the Week - A694848
Author: Zaphod: alchemically treated with lashings of water & "tickety-boo" tea - U176577

A694848 - Origins of the Days of the Week

So that's how the names for the days came from. See I knew If I stuck around I'd learn something. Looks good to me.
Well Done! The KID

Thats a good start. I must say I didn't learn anything but you can always improve. I suggest adding a few sentences for each of the greek/roman gods and their atributes that lead to having days named after them. But it does look like a promising entry.

heart of Darkness

I think that this is a good start, but there is probably more that could be said. Describing the gods and their attributes, as Ba`alzamon suggests would be interesting, and would flesh this entry out, which I think is needed before this is ready to be edited.

It might be a good idea to have two lists, one for the roman names of the week (as you already have) - which gives us a good idea of where the french days of the week come from - and one for the Norse gods - which would maybe be a little more appropriate when thinking of the modern english names


whisky

Just to acknowledge I'm still around. Thanks for your comments so far. I will attempt to 'flesh it out' with God/Goddess characteristics. I wonder why we used to eat certain foods/fixed meals on each weekday (e.g. Fish on Fridays). I wonder if that's connected to the deities?
Zaphod

Dear Heart of Darkness, Silverfish (Scout), whisky (Scout) and The Kid,
I thought doing a table was the best way of showing the attributes of the gods/goddesses associated with each of the days. I think giving background details about concepts of time and measuring it also enhanced the intro. What do you think?
Zaphod

Hmm. A serviceable entry.

The German days of the week need capital letters.

Some of the German and French days don't correspond entirely with the English, Norse or Roman origins, eg Mittwoch = midweek, Donnerstag = thunder day? Jeudi = games day? It would be quite jolly to keep the French and German days, but they may need expansion.

I'd also like to know a bit more about the Aboriginal stuff.

A typo - 'tio' should be 'to' and I would spell norse with a capital letter.

Ta 4 your comments singing fish. I've made some of your useful recommended changes (including some elaboration on Australian Aboriginal Dreamtime) to make it more serviceable but feel that to go into the French/German origins in turn would be beyond the scope of this entry. Perhaps I could leave them out completely or just rename the entry to *etymology of english days of the week* or something.
Zaphod

I like the expanded Aboriginal dreamtime bit.

Perhaps it would be better to omit the French and German days (pity though!). As you say, expanding them would probably muddy the waters too much. An alternative would be to leave them where they are relevant, but that would also probably be too messy.

However, the decision is up to you.

As far as I know, the Egyptians used a calendar based on 10-day weeks and 365 (not 365.25) days in the year as far back as 3000 BC, so your comment about the Babylonians looks a bit out of place.

One typo: you have day's when it should be days at one point.

Thanks Gnomon for your comments. Much appreciated. I originally intended to just make passing reference to both the Babylonian and Egyptian concepts of time and calendars but I do think it adds a dimension of interest. I have researched the subject further and can't find any evidence that the Egyptians invented the sundial first, but who knows for definite (perhaps their egg timers are far superior). The way in which different civilisations began to measure time generally would make an interesting 'stand-alone' entry. I suppose the week is but one manifestation of the ordering principle of patriarchal cultures. I think this point needed to be stressed. I also read that the influence of the Babylonians (being avid traders) was more far-reaching in Europe, disseminating their ideas more than the Egyptians who lived in relative isolation. However, there must have been parallel developments in terms of time measures.
Thanks too for typo.
Zaphod