The Seven-Day Week and the
Meanings of the Names of the Days
The Seven Day WeekThe Naming of the Days
Sunday -- Sun's day
Monday -- Moon's day
Tuesday -- Tiu's day
Wednesday -- Woden's day
Friday -- Freya's day
Saturday -- Saturn's day
Sources
See Also
The Seven-Day Week
The Babylonians marked time with lunar months. They proscribed some activities during several days of the month, particularly thefirst -- the first visible crecent,The major periods are seven days, 1/4 month, long. This seven-day period was later regularized and disassociated from the lunar month to become our seven-day week.
seventh -- the waxing half moon,
fourteenth -- the full moon,
nineteenth -- dedicated to an offended goddess,
twenty-first -- the waning half moon,
twenty-eigth -- the last visible crecent,
twenty-nineth -- the invisible moon, and
thirtieth (possibly) -- the invisible moon.
The Naming of the Days
The Greeks named the days week after the sun, the moon and the five known planets, which were in turn named after the gods Ares, Hermes, Zeus, Aphrodite, and Cronus. The Greeks called the days of the week the Theon hemerai "days of the Gods". The Romans substituted their equivalent gods for the Greek gods, Mars, Mercury, Jove (Jupiter), Venus, and Saturn. (The two pantheons are very similar.) The Germanic peoples generally substituted roughly similar gods for the Roman gods, Tiu (Twia), Woden, Thor, Freya (Fria), but did not substitute Saturn.Sunday -- Sun's day
Middle English sone(n)day or sun(nen)dayOld English sunnandæg "day of the sun"
Germanic sunnon-dagaz "day of the sun"
Latin dies solis "day of the sun"
Ancient Greek hemera heli(o)u, "day of the sun"
Monday -- Moon's day
Middle English monday or mone(n)dayOld English mon(an)dæg "day of the moon"
Latin dies lunae "day of the moon"
Ancient Greek hemera selenes "day of the moon"
Tuesday -- Tiu's day
Middle English tiwesday or tewesdayOld English tiwesdæg "Tiw's (Tiu's) day"
Latin dies Martis "day of Mars"
Ancient Greek hemera Areos "day of Ares"
Tiu (Twia) is the English/Germanic god of war and the sky. He is identified with the Norse god Tyr.
Mars is the Roman god of war.
Ares is the Greek god of war.
Wednesday -- Woden's day
Middle English wodnesday, wednesday, or wednesdaiOld English wodnesdæg "Woden's day"
Latin dies Mercurii "day of Mercury"
Ancient Greek hemera Hermu "day of Hermes"
Woden is the chief Anglo-Saxon/Teutonic god. Woden is the leader of the Wild Hunt. Woden is from wod "violently insane" + -en "headship". He is identified with the Norse Odin.
Mercury is the Roman god of commerce, travel, theivery, eloquence and science. He is the messenger of the other gods.
Hermes is the Greek god of commerce, invention, cunning, and theft. He is the messenger and herald of the other gods. He serves as patron of travelers and rogues, and as the conductor of the dead to Hades.
Thursday -- Thor's day
Middle English thur(e)sdayOld English thursdæg
Old Norse thorsdagr "Thor's day"
Old English thunresdæg "thunder's day"
Latin dies Jovis "day of Jupiter"
Ancient Greek hemera Dios "day of Zeus".
Thor is the Norse god of thunder. He is represented as riding a chariot drawn by goats and wielding the hammer Miölnir. He is the defender of the Aesir, destined to kill and be killed by the Midgard Serpent.
Jupiter (Jove) is the supreme Roman god and patron of the Roman state. He is noted for creating thunder and lightning.
Zeus is Greek god of the heavens and the supreme Greek god.
Friday -- Freya's day
Middle English fridaiOld English frigedæg "Freya's day"
composed of Frige (genetive singular of Freo) + dæg "day" (most likely)
or composed of Frig "Frigg" + dæg "day" (least likely)
Germanic frije-dagaz "Freya's (or Frigg's) day"
Latin dies Veneris "Venus's day"
Ancient Greek hemera Aphrodites "day of Aphrodite"
Freo is identical with freo, meaning free. It is from the Germanic frijaz meaning "beloved, belonging to the loved ones, not in bondage, free".
Freya (Fria) is the Teutonic goddess of love, beauty, and fecundity (prolific procreation). She is identified with the Norse god Freya. She is leader of the Valkyries and one of the Vanir. She is confused in Germany with Frigg.
Frigg (Frigga) is the Teutonic goddess of clouds, the sky, and conjugal (married) love. She is identified with Frigg, the Norse goddess of love and the heavens and the wife of Odin. She is one of the Aesir. She is confused in Germany with Freya.
Venus is the Roman goddess of love and beauty.
Aphrodite (Cytherea) is the Greek goddess of love and beauty.
Saturday -- Saturn's day
Middle English saterdayOld English sæter(nes)dæg "Saturn's day"
Latin dies Saturni "day of Saturn"
Ancient Greek hemera Khronu "day of Cronus"
Saturn is the Roman and Italic god of agriculture and the consort of Ops. He is believed to have ruled the earth during an age of happiness and virtue.
Cronus (Kronos, Cronos) is the Greek god (Titan) who ruled the universe until dethroned by his son Zeus.
Sources
These sources are somewhat inconsistent. I have chosen interpretations that are predominate among sources or that seem most reasonable.William Morris, editor, The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, New College Edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1976
Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Portland House, New York, 1989
William Matthew O'Neil, Time and the Calendars, Sydney University Press, 1975
See Also
The Royal Greenwich Observatory provides information on time, the calendar, the date of Easter, the equation of time, leap years, and the year 2000 AD.The United States Naval Observatory has several systems of time.
Lawrence A. Crowl, crowl@cs.orst.edu, 27 September 1995
2 comments:
I wanted to specifically read about this topic because it made me genuinely curious about how we came about the names of the days of the week. I never understood that they were actually named after gods and planets essentially, including the sun and the moon. I mean, Sunday is kind of obvious, but I found it very interesting about how the language plays a huge role into how the days were named and the reflection of planets on gods and vice versa. Overall, a very cool read !
It is truly unbelievable that there is a specific reason for everything in this life. Zeroing in on the days of the week, I am fascinated with this blog post and information on it. While I had always assumed there was a reason behind the names and the feelings about each day, actually learning the history about each one is really interesting. Specifically engaging in other pronunciations to find the derivatives and latin formations of each day is extra cool. I love this read!
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