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For anyone else curious, these 7-day planetary weekday names are from the West and are not a Japanese invention. Monday = moon = 月, Sunday = sun = 日 is not a co

For anyone else curious, these 7-day planetary weekday names are from the West and are not a Japanese invention. Monday = moon = 月, Sunday = sun = 日 is not a coincidence. The pairings of elements to planets seems to have been done by the Chinese many centuries ago.

gurkendoktor 7y ago
Curiously enough, the Chinese themselves use the most boring weekday scheme on Earth: Sunday, then weekday 1 through weekday 6.
- kzrdude 7y ago
  That's similar to portuguese, which has saturday and sunday, then numbered days.
magicsmoke 7y ago
Those element pairings were actually brought into Tang China by the Manichaeans in the 8th century AD. and based on parings originating in Rome from the 1st century AD. Monday = dies Lūnae = moon = 月 Tuesday = dies Martis = fire = 火 Wednesday = dies Mercuriī = water = 水 Thursday = dies Iovis = wood = 木 Friday = dies Veneris = gold = 金 Saturday = dies Saturnī = earth = 土 Sunday = dies Sōlis = sun = 日 Edit: Looks like China did have the same paring of elements to planets as the Romans did in the form of the 七曜 but they weren't used for days of the week until contact with western civilizations along the silk road until after at least 400 AD. Ancient China simply numbered the 30 or 29 days in their lunar calendar and used groupings of 10 days (旬) but didn't really have a concept of a fixed cycle of days with a day for rest and prayer. The crazy thing is that the east and west somehow came up with the same parings between elements and planets. Edit2: After a bit more research, looks like I was mistaken about the element parings. Rome was the one that paired planets and their associated gods to days of the week, but China was the one that paired elements to planets, and the two sets of parings mixed together afterwards. The fact that gold/metal was an element should have been a big hint since Ancient Greece only considered 4 classical elements while Ancient China used 5.
- currymj 7y ago
  so the days of the week in Spanish and Japanese have the same roots... that's wild!

gurkendoktor 7y ago

Curiously enough, the Chinese themselves use the most boring weekday scheme on Earth: Sunday, then weekday 1 through weekday 6.

kzrdude 7y ago
That's similar to portuguese, which has saturday and sunday, then numbered days.

magicsmoke 7y ago

Those element pairings were actually brought into Tang China by the Manichaeans in the 8th century AD. and based on parings originating in Rome from the 1st century AD. Monday = dies Lūnae = moon = 月 Tuesday = dies Martis = fire = 火 Wednesday = dies Mercuriī = water = 水 Thursday = dies Iovis = wood = 木 Friday = dies Veneris = gold = 金 Saturday = dies Saturnī = earth = 土 Sunday = dies Sōlis = sun = 日 Edit: Looks like China did have the same paring of elements to planets as the Romans did in the form of the 七曜 but they weren't used for days of the week until contact with western civilizations along the silk road until after at least 400 AD. Ancient China simply numbered the 30 or 29 days in their lunar calendar and used groupings of 10 days (旬) but didn't really have a concept of a fixed cycle of days with a day for rest and prayer. The crazy thing is that the east and west somehow came up with the same parings between elements and planets. Edit2: After a bit more research, looks like I was mistaken about the element parings. Rome was the one that paired planets and their associated gods to days of the week, but China was the one that paired elements to planets, and the two sets of parings mixed together afterwards. The fact that gold/metal was an element should have been a big hint since Ancient Greece only considered 4 classical elements while Ancient China used 5.

currymj 7y ago
so the days of the week in Spanish and Japanese have the same roots... that's wild!