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In Basque the words for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday are: astelehena, asteartea and asteazkena, literally "beginning of week", "between week" and "end of week"

by ftyers 5y ago

In Basque the words for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday are: astelehena, asteartea and asteazkena, literally "beginning of week", "between week" and "end of week" respectively. People have thought that at some point the Basques had a three day week with the later days innovations, but I don't think it has been shown definitively. Interesting anyway...

criddell 5y ago
What are the words for Thursday through Sunday?
- ftyers 5y ago
  Osteguna, ostirala, larunbata, igandea. Not sure of the etymologies of those, but Trask's dictionary probably has them.
  - ftyers 5y ago
    Thursday: ortzegun (L LN HN), orzegun (L LN), ostegun (G HN LN), ostégün (Z), ostégun (R), orzégun (R) n. ‘Thursday’. 1617. + egun ‘day’. This word, which looks so much like a calque of Lat. Jovis dies ‘Thursday’ (lit., ‘day of Jupiter’), possibly provides some support for the idea, discussed above, that the first element might once have been the name of a sky-god or a thunder-god. But a calque along the lines of ‘thunder-day’ also appears plausible. However, M. (1972f: 307) points out that a derivation from bortz ~ bost ‘five’ + egun ‘day’ would be formally perfect, by P9, and semantically acceptable if the days of the week are counted from Sunday. See also ortzirale, below, and see eguen (under egun). Friday: ortzirale (L LN), ortzilare (L LN R), orzirale (L), orzilare HN LN R), ostirale (LN), osti(r)ále (Z), ostrále (R), orziláre (R), ostiral (G) n. ‘Friday’. 1622. Final element obscure. See also barikua {~ bariaku under afari.} Saturday: larunbat (G HN L LN), laurenbat (old B G), laranbate (old LN *) ** n. ‘Saturday’. ** [FHV 95, 491, 501] Many have seen this as laurden ‘quarter’ (see lau [1]) + bat ‘one’, since Saturday completes the week, and a week is roughly one quarter of a month. But M. **{(1971b),} (1977a: 491) cautiously suggests a derivative of lagun ‘companion’, perhaps *lagunen bate ‘gathering of companions’, + -en {[1]} Gen. + a verbal noun from batu ‘get together’ (see bat). Cf. neskanegun (under neska). Sunday: igande (G HN L LN), igánte (Z R) n. ‘Sunday’. 1545. + -te {[1]} NFS (M. **{1971b: 586 n.12}). Though phonologically perfect, this etymology is semantically odd, and it is not certain, but it seems likely. The original sense was app. ‘ascension (day)’. Cf. Russian voskresén’e ‘Sunday’, originally ‘resurrection’. See domeka.* These are all from R. L. Trask (2008) "Etymological Dictionary of Basque".

by ftyers 5y ago

criddell 5y ago

What are the words for Thursday through Sunday?

ftyers 5y ago
Osteguna, ostirala, larunbata, igandea. Not sure of the etymologies of those, but Trask's dictionary probably has them.
- ftyers 5y ago
  Thursday: ortzegun (L LN HN), orzegun (L LN), ostegun (G HN LN), ostégün (Z), ostégun (R), orzégun (R) n. ‘Thursday’. 1617. + egun ‘day’. This word, which looks so much like a calque of Lat. Jovis dies ‘Thursday’ (lit., ‘day of Jupiter’), possibly provides some support for the idea, discussed above, that the first element might once have been the name of a sky-god or a thunder-god. But a calque along the lines of ‘thunder-day’ also appears plausible. However, M. (1972f: 307) points out that a derivation from bortz ~ bost ‘five’ + egun ‘day’ would be formally perfect, by P9, and semantically acceptable if the days of the week are counted from Sunday. See also ortzirale, below, and see eguen (under egun). Friday: ortzirale (L LN), ortzilare (L LN R), orzirale (L), orzilare HN LN R), ostirale (LN), osti(r)ále (Z), ostrále (R), orziláre (R), ostiral (G) n. ‘Friday’. 1622. Final element obscure. See also barikua {~ bariaku under afari.} Saturday: larunbat (G HN L LN), laurenbat (old B G), laranbate (old LN *) ** n. ‘Saturday’. ** [FHV 95, 491, 501] Many have seen this as laurden ‘quarter’ (see lau [1]) + bat ‘one’, since Saturday completes the week, and a week is roughly one quarter of a month. But M. **{(1971b),} (1977a: 491) cautiously suggests a derivative of lagun ‘companion’, perhaps *lagunen bate ‘gathering of companions’, + -en {[1]} Gen. + a verbal noun from batu ‘get together’ (see bat). Cf. neskanegun (under neska). Sunday: igande (G HN L LN), igánte (Z R) n. ‘Sunday’. 1545. + -te {[1]} NFS (M. **{1971b: 586 n.12}). Though phonologically perfect, this etymology is semantically odd, and it is not certain, but it seems likely. The original sense was app. ‘ascension (day)’. Cf. Russian voskresén’e ‘Sunday’, originally ‘resurrection’. See domeka.* These are all from R. L. Trask (2008) "Etymological Dictionary of Basque".