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Interesting. Knowing a little bit of English/Spanish you can guess the origin of most of the days of the week. * Sunday/Domingo - Sun/? * Monday/Lunes - Moon/

by huherto 16y ago

Interesting. Knowing a little bit of English/Spanish you can guess the origin of most of the days of the week. * Sunday/Domingo - Sun/? * Monday/Lunes - Moon/Luna * Tuesday/Martes - ?/Mars * Wednesday/Miercoles - ?/Mercurio * Thursday/Jueves - Thor/Jupiter * Friday/Viernes - ?/Venus * Saturday/Sabado - Saturn/?

Gigamo 16y ago
The article actually mentions most of them. :)
stonemetal 16y ago
Sabado = sabbath Friday = Freyja Norse god more or less equivalent to Venus. Wednesday = Norse god Woden more commonly known in the US with out the W aka Oden.
nopassrecover 16y ago
The French I was taught in primary school hinted at most of this too. I'd venture anyone who knew bits of different languages would have probably guessed the roots of the days, atlhough English roots differ from romance roots (Wednesday based on the English god Woden instead of the Roman god Mercury). * Dimanche * Lundi * Mardi * Mercredi * Jeudi * Vendredi * Samedi
- btilly 16y ago
  Actually if you know enough about the history of the Norse religion, Odin to Mercury is not a difference. Odin comes from Wotan who started as the messenger of the gods then gained prominence in the pantheon. By Roman times he was co-equal with Tiwaz and had acquired many of his characteristics. By Norse times Thor was still important enough to take the central position in the temple at Uppsala. However Odin was god of wars, aristocracy, and poetry. After Christianity took over, Odin continued to gain importance in the mythology (which was after all continued by poets telling stories for aristocracy) and by the time Snorri Sturluson wrote The Prose Edda was the familiar allfather, king of the gods, etc.
hackermom 16y ago
This is how it goes in Swedish as per our Norse history and heritage: Monday = Måndag = Månes dag (Máni's day) - Måne, the brother of Sol. "måne" is also Swedish for "moon" Tuesday = Tisdag = Tyrs dag (Týr's day, son of Oden) Wednesday = Onsdag = Odens dag (Oden's day) Thursday = Torsdag = Tors dag (Thor's day) Friday = Fredag = Frejas dag (Freyja's day) - some say this day is named after Frigg, and some Norse history seem to indicate that Freyja and Frigg are one and the same goddess that somehow got separated as two in literature Saturday = Lördag = lögardagen, from old, old Swedish "laugr" (water/waterfall), the day on which you bathe Sunday = Söndag = Sols dag (Sól's day) - "sol" is Swedish for "sun"
- zephjc 16y ago
  Icelandic shares only some and ends up being more like Bulgarian and Portuguese mentioned above - looks like the early Christian influence got the Icelanders too Monday: mánudagur = moon day Tuesday: þriðjudagur = 3rd day Wednesday: miðvikudagur = mid-week day Thursday: fimmtudagur = 5th day Friday: föstudagur = fasting day Saturday: laugardagur = washing day Sunday: sunnudagur = sun day
merraksh 16y ago
Domingo (Spanish, Portuguese) and Domenica (Italian) probably refer to Dominus, Lord, as Sunday is the Lord's day in the Christian tradition.
xelipe 16y ago
You beat me to it... I was going to mention that in Spanish, the weekdays are named after Roman gods from Latin. If you find this amazing, then you will be surprised that the month of July is named after Julius Caesar. But what I find truly amazing is that Caesar Salad is named after a guy from Tijuana!!!
- infinite8s 16y ago
  And August for Emperor Augustus, January for the roman god Janus (who was actually Zeus), etc
  - mtoledo 16y ago
    There's a legend that emperor Augustus wanted his month to have 31 days as well, just like Julius, and that's why we have 31 days on both months.
  - stavrianos 16y ago
    actually, Jupiter is Zeus. I don't think Janus has a counterpart.
- huherto 16y ago
  ah yeah, the names of the months. September - Siete, October - Ocho, November - Nueve, December - Diez. They would match if it weren't for July and August.
martythemaniak 16y ago
Interestingly, Bulgarian (and by extension probably all Slavic languages) don't follow this model. (translations based on word roots) Monday - ponedelnik - "after no work" Tuesday - vtornik - "second" Wednesday - sryada - "middle" Thursday - chetvurtuk - "fourth" Friday - petuk - "fifth" Saturday - subota - from Sabath Sunday - Nedelia - "no work"
- yan 16y ago
  Russian is very very similar save for Sunday, which is "voskresenya", which roughly translates to (i think) "the resurrection." "Nedelia" translates to "week," but I've never thought about it as meaning "no work" which it almost also does in Russian.
  - jarek 16y ago
    Knowing Polish and learning Russian had me do a couple of double-takes on days of the week. We call Sunday "niedziela" and the week "tydzień". I guess identifying Sunday with the week makes some sense, and one of the languages just switched it around at some point. I always thought of "niedziela" as coming from "nie dzielić" / "не делить" / "no dividing/separating", though it doesn't really make sense as name for the day.
- shrikant 16y ago
  Sanskrit (and hence Hindi and Tami;l) largely does. would clarify more but a bit too drunk now to tyep too ciherentyl. sorry. just thought you should know before i forgot in the morning..
hugh3 16y ago
What's really interesting is that Portugese is one of the few European languages which doesn't follow this pattern, since at some point someone decided it was heretical to name days after those silly Pagan gods. So they have: * Domingo – Sunday * Segunda-feira – Monday * Terça-feira – Tuesday * Quarta-feira – Wednesday * Quinta-feira – Thursday * Sexta-feira – Friday * Sábado – Saturday Domingo is the Day of the Lord, Sabado is based on sabbath and the others just get numbers. That's the trouble with monotheism, there's too damn many days and not enough gods.
- ido 16y ago
  Sabado is based on sabbath All of them except Domingo are also exactly the same in Hebrew ("first-day", "second-day", "third-day", etc).
- nske 16y ago
  In greek it is rather similar: * Monday -> Δευτέρα ("second") * Tuesday -> Τρίτη("third") * Wednesday -> Τετάρτη ("fourth") * Thursday -> Πέμπτη ("fifth") * Friday -> Παρασκευή ("preperation") * Saturday -> Σάββατο ("sabbath") * Sunday -> Κυριακή ("of the lord) That version is being used since the time of the Roman Empire, before that, Greeks used the babylonian model that named days after planets -which in turn had been named after gods. The english names are of germanic/norse descent, again mostly names of gods.
  - hugh3 16y ago
    So how many civilizations have _not_ had seven-day weeks?
josh33 16y ago
to chime in, Mongolian: 1-dex udur - 1st day (Monday) 2-daxi udur - 2nd day (Tuesday) etc... xagas-sain udur - 1/2 good day (Saturday) *buten-sain udur - full good day (Sunday)
albertcardona 16y ago
Domingo is from "domini/us", lord or sir, or head of the house (from "doma", home).
jcl 16y ago
And, according to the following page, the planetary day names eventually made their way to Japan in the first millenium, by way of India and China: http://www.cjvlang.com/Dow/dowjpn.html http://www.cjvlang.com/Dow/dowjpn.html I was always curious about the Friday -> "gold" day -> payday link, but I guess this was a total coincidence. The actual derivation seems to be Friday <- Venus's day -> gold planet's day. Other parts of the same site are devoted to the European, Chinese, and Vietnamese day name origins: http://www.cjvlang.com/Dow/index.html#TOP http://www.cjvlang.com/Dow/index.html#TOP
jrockway 16y ago
The Japanese seem to agree; sun, moon, fire, water, wood, gold, earth. Well, the beginning is similar, anyway...
hernan7 16y ago
Domingo -> from the Latin 'Dies Dominicus' -> The Lord's day Lunes -> Luna -> Moon Tuesday -> Martes -> Marte (Mars) Miercoles -> Mercurio (Mercury) Jueves -> Jove -> Jupiter Viernes -> Venus Sabado -> Sabbath http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor%C3%ADa:D%C3%ADas_de_la_semana http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor%C3%ADa:D%C3%ADas_de_la_...
acangiano 16y ago
In Italian it's pretty much the same: * Domenica (From Latin: dies dominicus -> Lord's day) * Lunedì (Luna -> Moon) * Martedì (Marte -> Mars) * Mercoledì (Mercurio -> Mercury) * Giovedì (Giove -> Jupiter) * Venerdì (Venere -> Venus) * Sabato (Sabbath)

by huherto 16y ago

Gigamo 16y ago

The article actually mentions most of them. :)

stonemetal 16y ago

Sabado = sabbath Friday = Freyja Norse god more or less equivalent to Venus. Wednesday = Norse god Woden more commonly known in the US with out the W aka Oden.

nopassrecover 16y ago

The French I was taught in primary school hinted at most of this too. I'd venture anyone who knew bits of different languages would have probably guessed the roots of the days, atlhough English roots differ from romance roots (Wednesday based on the English god Woden instead of the Roman god Mercury). * Dimanche * Lundi * Mardi * Mercredi * Jeudi * Vendredi * Samedi

btilly 16y ago
Actually if you know enough about the history of the Norse religion, Odin to Mercury is not a difference. Odin comes from Wotan who started as the messenger of the gods then gained prominence in the pantheon. By Roman times he was co-equal with Tiwaz and had acquired many of his characteristics. By Norse times Thor was still important enough to take the central position in the temple at Uppsala. However Odin was god of wars, aristocracy, and poetry. After Christianity took over, Odin continued to gain importance in the mythology (which was after all continued by poets telling stories for aristocracy) and by the time Snorri Sturluson wrote The Prose Edda was the familiar allfather, king of the gods, etc.

hackermom 16y ago

This is how it goes in Swedish as per our Norse history and heritage: Monday = Måndag = Månes dag (Máni's day) - Måne, the brother of Sol. "måne" is also Swedish for "moon" Tuesday = Tisdag = Tyrs dag (Týr's day, son of Oden) Wednesday = Onsdag = Odens dag (Oden's day) Thursday = Torsdag = Tors dag (Thor's day) Friday = Fredag = Frejas dag (Freyja's day) - some say this day is named after Frigg, and some Norse history seem to indicate that Freyja and Frigg are one and the same goddess that somehow got separated as two in literature Saturday = Lördag = lögardagen, from old, old Swedish "laugr" (water/waterfall), the day on which you bathe Sunday = Söndag = Sols dag (Sól's day) - "sol" is Swedish for "sun"

zephjc 16y ago
Icelandic shares only some and ends up being more like Bulgarian and Portuguese mentioned above - looks like the early Christian influence got the Icelanders too Monday: mánudagur = moon day Tuesday: þriðjudagur = 3rd day Wednesday: miðvikudagur = mid-week day Thursday: fimmtudagur = 5th day Friday: föstudagur = fasting day Saturday: laugardagur = washing day Sunday: sunnudagur = sun day

merraksh 16y ago

Domingo (Spanish, Portuguese) and Domenica (Italian) probably refer to Dominus, Lord, as Sunday is the Lord's day in the Christian tradition.

xelipe 16y ago

You beat me to it... I was going to mention that in Spanish, the weekdays are named after Roman gods from Latin. If you find this amazing, then you will be surprised that the month of July is named after Julius Caesar. But what I find truly amazing is that Caesar Salad is named after a guy from Tijuana!!!

infinite8s 16y ago
And August for Emperor Augustus, January for the roman god Janus (who was actually Zeus), etc
- mtoledo 16y ago
  There's a legend that emperor Augustus wanted his month to have 31 days as well, just like Julius, and that's why we have 31 days on both months.
- stavrianos 16y ago
  actually, Jupiter is Zeus. I don't think Janus has a counterpart.
huherto 16y ago
ah yeah, the names of the months. September - Siete, October - Ocho, November - Nueve, December - Diez. They would match if it weren't for July and August.

martythemaniak 16y ago

Interestingly, Bulgarian (and by extension probably all Slavic languages) don't follow this model. (translations based on word roots) Monday - ponedelnik - "after no work" Tuesday - vtornik - "second" Wednesday - sryada - "middle" Thursday - chetvurtuk - "fourth" Friday - petuk - "fifth" Saturday - subota - from Sabath Sunday - Nedelia - "no work"

yan 16y ago
Russian is very very similar save for Sunday, which is "voskresenya", which roughly translates to (i think) "the resurrection." "Nedelia" translates to "week," but I've never thought about it as meaning "no work" which it almost also does in Russian.
- jarek 16y ago
  Knowing Polish and learning Russian had me do a couple of double-takes on days of the week. We call Sunday "niedziela" and the week "tydzień". I guess identifying Sunday with the week makes some sense, and one of the languages just switched it around at some point. I always thought of "niedziela" as coming from "nie dzielić" / "не делить" / "no dividing/separating", though it doesn't really make sense as name for the day.
shrikant 16y ago
Sanskrit (and hence Hindi and Tami;l) largely does. would clarify more but a bit too drunk now to tyep too ciherentyl. sorry. just thought you should know before i forgot in the morning..

hugh3 16y ago

What's really interesting is that Portugese is one of the few European languages which doesn't follow this pattern, since at some point someone decided it was heretical to name days after those silly Pagan gods. So they have: * Domingo – Sunday * Segunda-feira – Monday * Terça-feira – Tuesday * Quarta-feira – Wednesday * Quinta-feira – Thursday * Sexta-feira – Friday * Sábado – Saturday Domingo is the Day of the Lord, Sabado is based on sabbath and the others just get numbers. That's the trouble with monotheism, there's too damn many days and not enough gods.

ido 16y ago
Sabado is based on sabbath All of them except Domingo are also exactly the same in Hebrew ("first-day", "second-day", "third-day", etc).
nske 16y ago
In greek it is rather similar: * Monday -> Δευτέρα ("second") * Tuesday -> Τρίτη("third") * Wednesday -> Τετάρτη ("fourth") * Thursday -> Πέμπτη ("fifth") * Friday -> Παρασκευή ("preperation") * Saturday -> Σάββατο ("sabbath") * Sunday -> Κυριακή ("of the lord) That version is being used since the time of the Roman Empire, before that, Greeks used the babylonian model that named days after planets -which in turn had been named after gods. The english names are of germanic/norse descent, again mostly names of gods.
- hugh3 16y ago
  So how many civilizations have _not_ had seven-day weeks?

josh33 16y ago

to chime in, Mongolian: 1-dex udur - 1st day (Monday) 2-daxi udur - 2nd day (Tuesday) etc... xagas-sain udur - 1/2 good day (Saturday) *buten-sain udur - full good day (Sunday)

albertcardona 16y ago

Domingo is from "domini/us", lord or sir, or head of the house (from "doma", home).

jcl 16y ago

And, according to the following page, the planetary day names eventually made their way to Japan in the first millenium, by way of India and China: http://www.cjvlang.com/Dow/dowjpn.html http://www.cjvlang.com/Dow/dowjpn.html I was always curious about the Friday -> "gold" day -> payday link, but I guess this was a total coincidence. The actual derivation seems to be Friday <- Venus's day -> gold planet's day. Other parts of the same site are devoted to the European, Chinese, and Vietnamese day name origins: http://www.cjvlang.com/Dow/index.html#TOP http://www.cjvlang.com/Dow/index.html#TOP

jrockway 16y ago

The Japanese seem to agree; sun, moon, fire, water, wood, gold, earth. Well, the beginning is similar, anyway...

hernan7 16y ago

Domingo -> from the Latin 'Dies Dominicus' -> The Lord's day Lunes -> Luna -> Moon Tuesday -> Martes -> Marte (Mars) Miercoles -> Mercurio (Mercury) Jueves -> Jove -> Jupiter Viernes -> Venus Sabado -> Sabbath http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor%C3%ADa:D%C3%ADas_de_la_semana http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor%C3%ADa:D%C3%ADas_de_la_...

acangiano 16y ago

In Italian it's pretty much the same: * Domenica (From Latin: dies dominicus -> Lord's day) * Lunedì (Luna -> Moon) * Martedì (Marte -> Mars) * Mercoledì (Mercurio -> Mercury) * Giovedì (Giove -> Jupiter) * Venerdì (Venere -> Venus) * Sabato (Sabbath)