Origin of Week Day Names

The names of the seven days of the week followed world wide are based on either planetary or numerical classification. There is a slight variation observed in the names of the days of the week and these differences are influenced by religious or a secular society. In such societies, Sunday is often referred to as the Ho the Lord’s day. Saturday is believed to be the ‘day of cleansing’ or the ‘Sabbath’, within such cultures. The Planetary names for the days are based on the celestial bodies observed in Earth’s sky. Basically, the Sun, our natural satellite – the Moon, and planets like Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn. Interestingly, this naming system corresponds with the names of popular Roman gods who influenced the earlier and similar names.

In the Germanic and English cultures, the Nordic gods with similar characteristics as their Roman counterparts were substituted, even though there was little or no connection at all with any kind of association with the planets. The English names we so commonly refer to are derived from the pantheon of Anglo-Saxon dieties. While the week day Thursday is named after the Scandinavian deity Thor, Friday is a revision of the name of the deity Freyja. However, even within such a culture, and in fact in cultures across the world, Saturday gets its name from Saturn, a Roman deity.

The weekend days – Saturday and Sunday are universally accepted ‘days of rest’. In Israel, the Sabbath lasts from Friday’s sunset to Saturday’s sunset. Interestingly, in Iran, the weekend is just one day long, with the Friday ebing the lucky day and Saturday kick-starting the week! The name Sunday represents the ‘Day of the Sun’. This name has its origin in pagan/sun cultures, during the medieval and rpe emdieval times. The week day, Monday, is derived from the acceptance of it being the ‘Day of the Moon’. The name was awarded based on translations from Latin, French and even Spanish.

The name awarded to the second day of the week, Tuesday, literally comes from the Old English ‘Tyr's day’ or the heroic God of Combat in Germanic paganism. The name of the day also corresponds to the Latin ‘Day or Mars’. Wednesday is dedicated to the Germanic God Woden, considered the highest in Norse mythology. In fact, Woden, is also a very important god of the Anglo-Saxons. This Latin ‘Day of Mercury’ also corresponds with the French ‘Mercredi’. Mercury and Odin were both psychopomps or ‘soul leaders’. They are also both associated with poetry and music. Thursday comes from the Old English ‘day of Þunor’, or the Modern English Thor. Thor is the Germanic God of Thunder. This ‘Day of Jupiter’ is dedicated to the Chief God of the Roman pantheon, who maintained his power on the basis of his unique thunderbolt.

The week day Friday is named after the Germanic goddess of beauty. She is believed to be an incarnation of the Norse goddess Frigg. This ‘Day of Venus’ also corresponds to Venus, the Roman godess of beauty, love and sexual desire. Saturday is named after the Roman god SaturnThe ‘Day of Saturn’ is also the ‘Day of the Sabbath’. Except Saturn, the other Gods after whom the days of the week are named do not preside over the planets involved. Different authorities on the names awarded to the days of the week have very different opinions. The universal explanation accepted for this measure of a seven day week is that after being incorporated in the imperial calendar of the Roman Empire, it was accepted by the Christian church.

The seven-day week is now extensively used to handle complex and busy global business and media schedules. The Book of Genesis of the Bible declares how God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh or the Sabbath, Saturday. The seven day week is not a recent concept in human history; in fact it was followed in pre-Christian Babylon and Persia and several other cultures.