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Days of The Week

The document discusses the origins of the names of the days of the week in English and other languages. It describes how each day was named after gods from Roman and Germanic mythologies, with Sunday through Friday being named after the sun, moon, Tiw, Woden, Thor, Frige, and Saturn. Saturday has variations across languages but originally came from Latin dies Saturni.

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Paula Othero
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106 views

Days of The Week

The document discusses the origins of the names of the days of the week in English and other languages. It describes how each day was named after gods from Roman and Germanic mythologies, with Sunday through Friday being named after the sun, moon, Tiw, Woden, Thor, Frige, and Saturn. Saturday has variations across languages but originally came from Latin dies Saturni.

Uploaded by

Paula Othero
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The days of the week

The seven gods depicted are the gods of the planets in correct
order to their relationship to the seven days of the week.

From left to right they are:


Diana the moon for Monday,
Mars for Tuesday,
Mercury for Wednesday,
Jupiter for Thursday,
Venus for Friday,
Saturn for Saturday,
Apollo for Sunday.
Sunday
Old English Sunnandg
(pronounced [sunnndj]),
meaning "sun's day." This is a
translation of the Latin phrase dies
Solis.

English, like most of the Germanic


languages, preserves the original
pagan/sun associations of the day.

Many other European languages,


including all of the Romance
languages, have changed its name
to the equivalent of "the Lord's day"
(based on Ecclesiastical Latin dies
Dominica).

In both West Germanic and North


Germanic mythology the Sun is
personified as a goddess,
Monday

Old English Mnandg


(pronounced [monndj]),
meaning "Moon's day."

This is based on a translation of


the Latin name dies lunae. In North
Germanic mythology, the Moon is
personified as a god, Mni.
Tuesday
Old English Twesdg (pronounced
[tiwezdj]), meaning "Tiw's day."

Tiw (Norse Tr) was a one-handed


god associated with single combat
and pledges in Norse mythology
and also attested prominently in
wider Germanic paganism.

The name of the day is based on


Latin dies Martis, "Day of Mars".
Wednesday
OldEnglish Wdnesdg

pronounced
( [wodnezdj])
meaning the day of the Germanic god Wodan
(known as inn among the North Germanic
peoples), and a prominent god of the Anglo-
Saxons (and other Germanic peoples) in
England until about the seventh century.

It is based on Latin dies Mercurii, "Day of


Mercur." The connection between Mercury and
Odin is more strained than the other syncretic
connections. The usual explanation is that
both Wodan and Mercury were considered
guides of souls after death, in their respective
mythologies;
Thursday
Old English nresdg
(pronounced [unrezdj]),
meaning 'unor's day'. unor
means thunder or its
personification, the Norse god
known in Modern English as Thor.

Similarly Dutch donderdag,


German Donnerstag ('thunder's
day'), Finnish torstai, and
Scandinavian Torsdag ('Thor's
day'). Thor's day corresponds to
Latin dies Iovis, "day of Jupiter".
Friday
Old English Frgedg (pronounced
[frijedj]), meaning the day of
the Anglo-Saxon goddess Frge.

The Norse name for the planet


Venus was Friggjarstjarna, 'Frigg's
star'. It is based on the Latin dies
Veneris, "Day of Venus."
Saturday
The only day of the week to retain its Roman
origin in English, named after the Roman god
Saturn associated with the Titan Cronus,
father of Zeus and many Olympians. Its
original Anglo-Saxon rendering was

Sturnesdg ( pronounced
[sturnezdj]).

In Latin it was dies Saturni, "Day of Saturn."

The Scandinavian Lrdag/Lrdag deviates


significantly as it has no reference to either
the Norse or the Roman pantheon; it derives
from old Norse laugardagr, literally "washing-
day." The German Sonnabend (mainly used in
northern and eastern Germany) and the Low
German words Snnavend mean "Sunday
Eve", the German word Samstag (mainly used
in southern and western Germany) derives
from the name for Shabbat.

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