PRESENTATION OUTLINE
HOW THE DAYS OF THE WEEK GOT THIER NAMES
WHAT I LEARNED: The days of the week come from three different cultures- the Greek, the roman, and the Germanic.
The Greeks:
Days of the weeks named after- the sun, the moon, five known plants named after the gods Ares, Hermes, Zeus, Aphrodite, and Cronus.
The Greek called the days of the weeks "the days of the gods" or Theon Hemera
The Romans substituted equivalent gods: Mars, Mercury, Jove (Jupiter), Venus, and Saturn (equivalent to the Greek gods.)
The Germanic people substituted roughly equivalent gods for the roman gods. They are: Tiu (Twia), Woden, Thor, Freya (Frial) but not Saturn.
Sunday: sun's day
Middle English- sone(n) day or sun(nen) day
Old English- sunnandoeg "day of sun"
Germanic- summon-dagaz "day of sun"
Latin- dies solis "day of the sun"
Ancient Greek- hemera heli(o)u "day of the sun"
Monday- moon's day
Middle English- Monday or mone(n)day
Old English- mon(an) doeg "day of the moon"
Latin- dies lunae "day of the moon"
Ancient Greek- hemera selenes "day of the moon"
Tuesday- Tiu's day
Middle English- tiwesday or tewesday
Old English- tiwas doeg "Tiw's (Tiu's) day"
Latin- dies Martis "day of Mars"
Ancient Greek- hemera Areos "day of Ares"
English/ Germanic God of war and the sky is Tiu (Twia). Identified with the Norse god Try also
Roman God of war is Mars.
Wednesday- woden's day
Middle English- wodnesday, Wednesday, or wednesdai
Old English- wodnes doeg "woden's day"
Latin- dies Mercurii "day of mercury"
Ancient Greek- hemera Hermu "day of Hermes"
Woden is leader of the wild hunt, from wod "violently insane" and en "headship" and is known in Norse as Odin.
Mercury is the roman God of commerce, travel, thievery, eloquence and science also the messenger of the other gods
Hermes is the Greek God of commerce, invention, cunning, and theft, is the messenger and herald of the other gods and also serves as patron of travelers and rogues and as the conductor of the dead to hades.
Thursday- Thor's day
Middle English-thur(e)sday
Old English- thursdoeg
Old Norse-thorsdagr "Thor's day"
Old English- thunresdoeg "thunders day"
Latin- dies jovis "day of Jupiter"
Ancient Greek- hemera Dios "day of Zeus "
Thor is the Norse god of thunder
Jupiter (Jove) is supreme roman God and is noted for creating thunder and lightning
Zeus is the Greek god of the heavens and supreme god
Friday- Freya's day
Middles English- fridai
Old English- frigedoeg "Freya's day" composed of frige (genitive singular of freo) and doeg "day" (most likely)
Germanic- frijae- dagaz "Freya's (or frigg's) day"
Latin- dies veneris "venus's day"
Ancient Greek- hemera Aprodites "day of Aphrodite"
Roman goddess of love and beauty is Venus.
Greek goddess of love and beauty is Aphrodite (cytherea)
Freo comes from Germanic Friday meaning "beloved, belonging to the loved ones, not in bondage, free"
Freya (fria) also known in Norse god Freya is of love, beauty, and fecundity (prolific procreation)
Goddess of clouds, the sky and conjugal (married) love is frigg (frigga) and is also known with frigg the Norse goddess of love and the heavens.
Saturday- saturn's day
Middle English- saterday
Old English- soeter(nes)doeg "saturn's day"
Latin-dies saturni "day of Saturn"
Ancient Greek- hemera khronu "day of Cronus"
Roman and italic god of agriculture and is believed to have ruled the earth during an age of happiness and virtue is Saturn.
The Greek god (Titan) who ruled the universe until dethroned by his son, Zeus, is Cronus (Kronos, cronos)
That's where the names of the days of our week come from those 3 amazing cultures and I think we should be great full and thank them everyday for having days of the weeks to look forward to by name.
