Days of the week
From Freepedia
In English the days of the week are:
Saturday and Sunday are commonly called the weekend and are days of rest and recreation in most western cultures. The other five days are then known as weekdays. Friday and Saturday are days of rest in Muslim and Jewish countries respectively, and in the Bible, from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset is the Sabbath.
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Order
The week as we know it was introduced by astromancers around the 3rd century, replacing the Roman calendar in use until then. The order of the days was explained by Dio Cassius (and Chaucer gave the same explanation in his Treatise on the Astrolabe). According to Cassius, it was a principle of astrology that the heavenly bodies presided, in succession, over the hours of the day. The Ptolemaic system asserts that the order of the heavenly bodies, from the farthest to the closest to the Earth, is: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon. (This order was first established by the Greek Stoics.)
If the first hour of a day is dominated by Saturn (Image:Saturn symbol.ant.png), then the second hour is dominated by Jupiter (Image:Jupiter symbol.ant.png), the third by Mars (Image:Mars symbol.ant.png), and so on, so that the sequence of planets repeats every seven hours. Therefore, the twenty-fifth hour, which is the first hour of the following day, is dominated by the Sun; the forty-ninth hour, which is the first hour of the next day, by the Moon. Thus, if a day is labelled by the planet which dominates its first hour, then Saturn's day is followed by the Sun's day, which is followed by the Moon's day, and so forth, as shown below.
In English, the Anglo-Saxon names of the days of the week obscure this relationship somewhat (see Names).
heptagram, the {7/3} star polygon (as 24 Mod 7 = 3). The luminaries are arranged in the same Ptolemaic/Stoic order around the points of the heptagram. Tracing the unicursal line from one planet to the next gives the order of the weekdays.According to Aleister Crowley, in The Book of Thoth (1944), "It is believed that this neat discovery is due to the late G. H. Frater D.D.C.F." (Pt. 1, Ch. 1). (Although, as Crowley calls the figure a hexagram, his reliability is somewhat suspect.) According to some sources this 'weekday heptagram is considerably older —
- It was with the adoption and widespread use of the seven-day week throughout the Hellenistic world of mixed cultures that this heptagram was created. [1]
Modern ordering
According to ISO 8601, the week begins on a Monday. This agrees with the term weekend for Saturday and Sunday. But this differs from the numerical weekday order used in medieval Latin churches, who numbered the first through sixth days of the week (Sunday through Friday). Similarly, weeks now exist in two varieties. The traditional Sunday-first system is used by some English speakers and much of Latin America, while most of continental Europe uses the ISO order.
Names
- For personal names taken from the days of the week, see Akan names.
In English all the days of the week are named after the ruling luminary, with most of the names coming from Anglo-Saxon gods and goddesses. Sunday and Monday are named directly from the sun and moon, although the Anglo-Saxon goddess Sunne is implicit in the name of the sun itself. Saturday is the only day named after a Roman god. Other Germanic languages generally follow the same pattern, but Dutch is the only other that preserves all the astronomical names.
In most Romance languages (Italian, Spanish, French, etc.), the names of the days except Saturday and Sunday come from Roman gods via the Latin. Welsh, the closest living language to that of Roman Britain, faithfully preserves all the Latin names, even though the language itself is not directly descended from Latin.
In Japanese and Korean, Sunday and Monday are named after the Sun and Moon, while the other five days are translated using the names of the five classical planets, which themselves are named using the Five Elements of traditional Chinese philosophy. For example, Mercury is called "planet of water" in Japanese and Korean, and the day Wednesday (Mercury's day in the Romance languages) is called "day of the planet of water". (In Chinese, the planets are also named using the elements, but the days of the week are numbered.)
The early Christian Church was uncomfortable using names based on "false" pagan gods, and introduced a simple numerical nomenclature which persists in many European languages, although in Slavic languages the numbering starts on Monday rather than Sunday (anticipating ISO 8601). Arabic uses a similar system (with the same numbering as the western european languages), although in this case Friday (the Muslim day of prayer) is named while Sunday is numbered. In Chinese, all days except Sunday are numbered.
- The (suggested) purpose of these tables is to show how far different languages preserve the associations with the ruling luminaries (or not!) and the Church's numbering of the days. (That is, not to list the names in "every" language: Wiktionary entries for the day names offer such lists – click on the links in the header row.)
Astronomical
| Day | Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Luminary & symbol | Sun Image:Sun symbol.ant.png | Moon Image:Moon symbol.ant.png | Mars Image:Mars symbol.ant.png | Mercury Image:Mercury symbol.ant.png | Jupiter Image:Jupiter symbol.ant.png | Venus Image:Venus symbol.ant.png | Saturn Image:Saturn symbol.ant.png |
| Latin | dies solis | dies lunae | dies Martis | dies Mercurĭi | dies Jovis | dies Venĕris | dies Saturni |
| Italian | domenica (1) | lunedì | martedì | mercoledì | giovedì | venerdì | sabato (2) |
| Spanish | domingo (1) | lunes | martes | miércoles | jueves | viernes | sábado (2) |
| Romanian | Duminicǎ (1) | Luni | Marţi | Miercuri | Joi | Vineri | Sâmbǎtǎ (2) |
| French | dimanche (1) | lundi | mardi | mercredi | jeudi | vendredi | samedi (2) |
| Esperanto | dimanĉo | lundo | mardo | merkredo | ĵaŭdo | vendredo | sabato |
| Welsh | dydd Sul | dydd Llun | dydd Mawrth | dydd Mercher | dydd Iau | dydd Gwener | dydd Sadwrn |
| Cornish | dy Sul | dy Lun | dy Meurth | dy Mergher | dy Yow | dy Gwener | dy Sadorn |
| Breton | Disul | Dilun | Dimeurzh | Dimerc’her | Diriaou | Digwener | Disadorn |
| Irish | Dé Domhnaigh | Dé Luain | Dé Mháirt | Dé Chéadaoin | Déardaoin | Dé hAoine | Dé Sathairn |
| Gaelic | Di-Domhnaich | Di-Luain | Di-Mairt | Di-Ciadaoin | Diardaoin | Di-Haoine | Di-Sathurna |
| Manx | Jedoonee | Jelune | Jemayrt | Jecrean | Jerdrein | Jeheiney | Jesarn |
| Old High German | sunnuntag | mānetag | zeistag Ziu's day | wodenstag Woden's day | donerestag Thor's day | friatag Freia's day | sambaztag (2) |
| German | Sonntag | Montag | Dienstag | Mittwoch (3) | Donnerstag | Freitag | Samstag or Sonnabend (2) |
| Danish | søndag | mandag | tirsdag | onsdag | torsdag | fredag | lørdag (4) |
| Dutch | zondag | maandag | dinsdag | woensdag | donderdag | vrijdag | zaterdag |
| Old Norse | sunnundagr Sunna's day | mánandagr | tysdagr Tyr's day | óðensdagr Odin's day | þorsdagr Thor's day | friádagr Freya's day | laugardagr (4) |
| Swedish | Söndag | Måndag | Tisdag | Onsdag | Torsdag | Fredag | Lördag (4) |
| Finnish | sunnuntai | maanantai | tiistai | keskiviikko (3) | torstai | perjantai | lauantai (4) |
| Old English | sunnandæg Sunne's day | mōnandæg | tiwesdæg Tiw's day | wodnesdæg Woden's day | þunresdæg Thunor's day | frigesdæg Frige's day | sæternesdæg |
| English | Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
| Sanskrit & Hindi | रविवार Ravi day | सोमवार Soma day | मंगलवार Mangala day | बुधवार Budha day | गुरूवार Guru day | शुक्रवार Shukra day | शनिवार Shani day |
| Gujarati | રવિવાર Ravi day | સોમવાર Soma day | મંગળવાર Mangala day | બુધવાર Budha day | ગુરૂવાર Guru day | શુક્રવાર Shukra day | શનિવાર Shani day |
| Tamil | ஞாயிற்றுகிழமை Nyāyitru day | திங்கட்கிழமை Thingat day | ெசவ்வாய்க்கிழமை Sevvāi day | புதன்க்கிழமை Budhan day | வியாழக்கிழமை Vyāzha day | ெவௗ்ௗிக்கிழமை Velli day | சனிக்கிழமை Shani day |
| Japanese | 日曜日 Sun's day | 月曜日 Moon's day | 火曜日 day of the planet of fire (Mars) | 水曜日 day of the planet of water (Mercury) | 木曜日 day of the planet of wood (Jupiter) | 金曜日 day of the planet of metal (Venus) | 土曜日 day of the planet of earth (Saturn) |
| Korean* | 일요일 Sun's day | 월요일 Moon's day | 화요일 day of the planet of fire (Mars) | 수요일 day of the planet of water (Mercury) | 목요일 day of the planet of wood (Jupiter) | 금요일 day of the planet of metal (Venus) | 토요일 day of the planet of earth (Saturn) |
| Luminary & symbol | Sun Image:Sun symbol.ant.png | Moon Image:Moon symbol.ant.png | Mars Image:Mars symbol.ant.png | Mercury Image:Mercury symbol.ant.png | Jupiter Image:Jupiter symbol.ant.png | Venus Image:Venus symbol.ant.png | Saturn Image:Saturn symbol.ant.png |
| Day | Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
* The Japanese names are the same as the traditional way days of week were named in Chinese. The Korean names are also the same but written in Hangul.
Numerical
| Day | Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Latin (Church usage) | prima feria or dominica | secunda feria | tertia feria | quarta feria | quinta feria | sexta feria | sabbatum |
| Hebrew | יום ראשון (first day) | יום שני (second day) | יום שלישי (third day) | יום רביעי (fourth day) | יום חמישי (fifth day) | יום שישי (sixth day) | שבת Sabbath |
| Portuguese | domingo (1) | segunda-feira | terça-feira | quarta-feira | quinta-feira | sexta-feira | sábado (2) |
| Icelandic | sunnudagur (5) | mánudagur (5) | þriðjudagur | miðvikudagur (3) | fimmtudagur | föstudagur ("fast day") | laugardagur (4) |
| Estonian | pühapäev ("holy day") | esmaspäev | teisipäev | kolmapäev or kesknädal (3) | neljapäev | reede (ON friádagr) | laupäev (4) |
| Polish | niedziela ("no work") | poniedziałek ("after no-work") | wtorek ("second") | środa ("middle") | czwartek ("fourth") | piątek ("fifth") | sobota (2) |
| Lietuvių | sekmadienis ("seventh day")(2) | pirmadienis ("first day") | antradienis ("second day") | trečiadienis ("third day") | ketvirtadienis ("fourth day") | penktadienis ("fifth day") | šeštadienis ("sixth day") |
| Russian | воскресенье voskresen'ye ("resurrection") | понедельник ponedel'nik ("after no-work") | вторник vtornik ("second") | среда sreda ("center") | четверг chetverk ("fourth") | пятница pyatnitsa ("fifth") | суббота subbota (2) |
| Chinese | 星期日 ("day of the week") | 星期一 ("first of week") | 星期二 ("second of week") | 星期三 ("third of week") | 星期四 ("fourth of week") | 星期五 ("fifth of week") | 星期六 ("sixth of week") |
| ISO 8601 # | 7 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| Day | Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
Notes
- The Romance languages (Italian, Spanish, French, etc.) break from the pattern of using the Roman associations in preference for a Christian association: Sunday being the Christian day of rest, these days are named after the "day of our Lord". This is the norm in languages, such as Portuguese, where names faithfully follow Church usage.
- The Romance languages, Old High German and German, and the Slavic languages have words for Saturday that are derived from the Hebrew Sabbath, via late Greek Sambaton. German also has a second, Christianised name meaning "Eve of Sunday" (parallel to "Christmas Eve", for example). Samstag is mainly South German, Sonnabend North German.
- German, Finnish, and Estonian call Wednesday, prosaically, "mid-week"; Icelandic "mid-week day"; Polish, Russian, etc. "middle".
- Old Norse, Swedish (and other North Germanic languages), and Finnish and Estonian (Finnic languages) call Saturday "washday" or "bathday", as it was the traditional day for washing and bathing.
- Icelandic sunnudagur and mánudagur are astronomical, persisting presumably because there's no explicit reference to pagan gods.
See also
External links
- Planetary Linguistics and the Days of the Week -- The Definitive Site
- Days of the week and months of the year in many different languages
- Names of Weekdays at TheScian.com Science Wiki
Bibliography
- Falk, Michael (1999). "Astronomical Names for the Days of the Week", Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Vol. 93, p.122. 1999JRASC..93..122F. [2]
