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In many languages, the names given to the seven days of the
week
A week is a unit of time equal to seven days. It is the standard time period used for short cycles of days in most parts of the world. The days are often used to indicate common work days and rest days, as well as days of worship. Weeks are ofte ...
are derived from the names of the
classical planets
In classical antiquity, the seven classical planets or seven luminaries are the seven moving astronomical objects in the sky visible to the naked eye: the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. The word ''planet'' comes from ...
in
Hellenistic astronomy
Greek astronomy is astronomy written in the Greek language in classical antiquity. Greek astronomy is understood to include the Ancient Greek, Hellenistic, Greco-Roman, and Late Antiquity eras. It is not limited geographically to Greece or to eth ...
, which were in turn named after contemporary deities, a system introduced by the Sumerians and later adopted by the Babylonians from whom the Roman Empire adopted the system during
Late Antiquity
Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English ha ...
. In some other languages, the days are named after corresponding deities of the regional culture, beginning either with
Sunday
Sunday is the day of the week between Saturday and Monday. In most Western countries, Sunday is a day of rest and a part of the weekend. It is often considered the first day of the week.
For most observant adherents of Christianity, Sunday ...
or with
Monday
Monday is the day of the week between Sunday and Tuesday. According to the International Organization for Standardization's ISO 8601 standard, it is the first day of the week and in countries that adopt the "Sunday-first" convention, it is ...
. The seven-day week was adopted in early Christianity from the
Hebrew calendar
The Hebrew calendar ( he, הַלּוּחַ הָעִבְרִי, translit=HaLuah HaIvri), also called the Jewish calendar, is a lunisolar calendar used today for Jewish religious observance, and as an official calendar of the state of Israel. I ...
, and gradually replaced the Roman
nundinal cycle
The nundinae (), sometimes anglicized to nundines,. were the market days of the ancient Roman calendar, forming a kind of weekend including, for a certain period, rest from work for the ruling class (patricians).
The nundinal cycle, market w ...
as the new religion spread. Sunday remained the first day of the week, being considered the
Lord's Day
The Lord's Day in Christianity is generally Sunday, the principal day of communal worship. It is observed by most Christians as the weekly memorial of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is said in the canonical Gospels to have been witnessed al ...
, while the Jewish
sabbath
In Abrahamic religions, the Sabbath () or Shabbat (from Hebrew ) is a day set aside for rest and worship. According to the Book of Exodus, the Sabbath is a day of rest on the seventh day, commanded by God to be kept as a holy day of rest, as G ...
remained the seventh. Emperor
Constantine
Constantine most often refers to:
* Constantine the Great, Roman emperor from 306 to 337, also known as Constantine I
*Constantine, Algeria, a city in Algeria
Constantine may also refer to:
People
* Constantine (name), a masculine given name ...
adopted the seven-day week for official use in AD 321, making the
Day of the Sun
The Day of the Sun () is an annual public holiday in North Korea on 15 April, the birth anniversary of Kim Il-sung, founder and Eternal President of North Korea. It is the most important national holiday in the country, and is considered to b ...
() a legal holiday.
In the international standard
ISO 8601
ISO 8601 is an international standard covering the worldwide exchange and communication of date and time-related data. It is maintained by the Geneva-based International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and was first published in 1988, wi ...
, Monday is treated as the first day of the week.
Days named after planets
Greco-Roman tradition
Between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD, the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...
gradually replaced the eight-day Roman
nundinal cycle
The nundinae (), sometimes anglicized to nundines,. were the market days of the ancient Roman calendar, forming a kind of weekend including, for a certain period, rest from work for the ruling class (patricians).
The nundinal cycle, market w ...
with the seven-day week.
The earliest evidence for this new system is a Pompeiian graffito referring to 6 February (''ante diem viii idus Februarias'') of the year
AD 60
__NOTOC__
AD 60 ( LX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Nero and Lentulus (or, less frequently, year 813 ''Ab urbe condit ...
as ''dies solis'' ("Sunday").
Another early witness is a reference to a lost treatise by
Plutarch
Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''P ...
, written in about AD 100, which addressed the question of: "Why are the days named after the planets reckoned in a different order from the 'actual' order?". (The treatise is lost, but the answer to the question is known; see
planetary hours
The planetary hours are an ancient system in which one of the seven classical planets is given rulership over each day and various parts of the day. Developed in Hellenistic astrology, it has possible roots in older Babylonian astrology, and it ...
).
The
Ptolemaic system
In astronomy, the geocentric model (also known as geocentrism, often exemplified specifically by the Ptolemaic system) is a superseded description of the Universe with Earth at the center. Under most geocentric models, the Sun, Moon, stars, and ...
of planetary spheres asserts that the order of the heavenly bodies, from the farthest to the closest to the Earth is:
Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; h ...
,
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but ...
,
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...
,
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...
,
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never fa ...
,
Mercury
Mercury commonly refers to:
* Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun
* Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg
* Mercury (mythology), a Roman god
Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to:
Companies
* Merc ...
,
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...
, or, objectively, the planets are ordered from slowest to fastest moving as they appear in the night sky.
The days were named after the
planets
A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a young ...
of
Hellenistic astrology
Hellenistic astrology is a tradition of horoscopic astrology that was developed and practiced in the late Hellenistic period in and around the Mediterranean Basin region, especially in Egypt. The texts and technical terminology of this tradition o ...
, in the order: Sun, Moon, Mars (''Ares''), Mercury (''Hermes''), Jupiter (''Zeus''), Venus (''Aphrodite'') and Saturn (''Cronos'').
The seven-day week spread throughout the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...
in
Late Antiquity
Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English ha ...
.
By the 4th century, it was in wide use throughout the Empire.
The Greek and Latin names are as follows:
Romance languages
Except for Modern Portuguese and
Mirandese
The Mirandese language ( mwl, mirandés, links=no or ''lhéngua mirandesa''; pt, mirandês or ) is an Astur-Leonese language or language variety that is sparsely spoken in a small area of northeastern Portugal in Terra de Miranda (made up of th ...
, the Romance languages preserved the Latin names, except for the names of Sunday, which was replaced by ''
iesDominicus (Dominica)'', i.e. "the
Lord's Day
The Lord's Day in Christianity is generally Sunday, the principal day of communal worship. It is observed by most Christians as the weekly memorial of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is said in the canonical Gospels to have been witnessed al ...
", and of Saturday, which was named for the
Sabbath
In Abrahamic religions, the Sabbath () or Shabbat (from Hebrew ) is a day set aside for rest and worship. According to the Book of Exodus, the Sabbath is a day of rest on the seventh day, commanded by God to be kept as a holy day of rest, as G ...
. Mirandese and Modern Portuguese use numbered weekdays (see
below
Below may refer to:
*Earth
*Ground (disambiguation)
*Soil
*Floor
*Bottom (disambiguation)
Bottom may refer to:
Anatomy and sex
* Bottom (BDSM), the partner in a BDSM who takes the passive, receiving, or obedient role, to that of the top or ...
), but retain ''sábado'' and ''demingo''/''domingo'' for weekends.
Celtic languages
Early
Old Irish
Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic ( sga, Goídelc, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ga, Sean-Ghaeilge; gd, Seann-Ghàidhlig; gv, Shenn Yernish or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive writt ...
adopted the names from Latin, but introduced separate terms of Norse origin for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, then later supplanted these with terms relating to church fasting practices.
Adoptions from Romance
Albanian adopted the Latin terms for Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday, adopted translations of the Latin terms for Sunday and Monday, and kept native terms for Thursday and Friday. Other languages adopted the week together with the Latin (Romance) names for the days of the week in the colonial period. Several constructed languages also adopted the Latin terminology.
With the exception of ''sabato'', the Esperanto names are all from French, cf. French ''dimanche, lundi, mardi, mercredi, jeudi, vendredi''.
Germanic tradition
The
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples were historical groups of people that once occupied Central Europe and Scandinavia during antiquity and into the early Middle Ages. Since the 19th century, they have traditionally been defined by the use of ancient and ear ...
adapted the system introduced by the Romans by substituting the
Germanic deities
In Germanic paganism, the indigenous religion of the ancient Germanic peoples who inhabited Germanic Europe, there were a number of different gods and goddesses. Germanic deities are attested from numerous sources, including works of literature, ...
for the Roman ones (with the exception of ''Saturday'') in a process known as .
The date of the introduction of this system is not known exactly, but it must have happened later than AD 200 but before the introduction of Christianity during the 6th to 7th centuries, i.e., during the final phase or soon after the collapse of the
Western Roman Empire
The Western Roman Empire comprised the western provinces of the Roman Empire at any time during which they were administered by a separate independent Imperial court; in particular, this term is used in historiography to describe the period fr ...
. This period is later than the
Common Germanic
Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages.
Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic branc ...
stage, but still during the phase of undifferentiated
West Germanic
The West Germanic languages constitute the largest of the three branches of the Germanic family of languages (the others being the North Germanic and the extinct East Germanic languages). The West Germanic branch is classically subdivided into t ...
. The names of the days of the week in
North Germanic languages
The North Germanic languages make up one of the three branches of the Germanic languages—a sub-family of the Indo-European languages—along with the West Germanic languages and the extinct East Germanic languages. The language group is also r ...
were not
calque
In linguistics, a calque () or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal word-for-word or root-for-root translation. When used as a verb, "to calque" means to borrow a word or phrase from another language wh ...
d from Latin directly, but taken from the West Germanic names.
*
Sunday
Sunday is the day of the week between Saturday and Monday. In most Western countries, Sunday is a day of rest and a part of the weekend. It is often considered the first day of the week.
For most observant adherents of Christianity, Sunday ...
: Old English (), meaning "sun's day". This is a translation of the Latin phrase . English, like most of the
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania and Southern Africa. The most widely spoken Germanic language, Engli ...
, preserves the day's association with the sun. Many other European languages, including all of the
Romance languages
The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language fam ...
, have changed its name to the equivalent of "the Lord's day" (based on Ecclesiastical Latin ). In both West Germanic and North Germanic mythology, the Sun is personified as
Sunna/Sól.
*
Monday
Monday is the day of the week between Sunday and Tuesday. According to the International Organization for Standardization's ISO 8601 standard, it is the first day of the week and in countries that adopt the "Sunday-first" convention, it is ...
: Old English (), meaning "Moon's day". This is equivalent to the Latin name . In North Germanic mythology, the Moon is personified as
Máni
Máni (Old Norse: ; "Moon"Orchard (1997:109).) is the Moon personified in Germanic mythology. Máni, personified, is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the ''Prose Edda'', written ...
.
*
Tuesday
Tuesday is the day of the week between Monday and Wednesday. According to international standard ISO 8601, Monday is the first day of the week; thus, Tuesday is the second day of the week. According to some commonly used calendars, however, ...
: Old English (), meaning "Tiw's day".
Tiw (Norse ) was a one-handed god associated with single combat and pledges in
Norse mythology
Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period ...
and also attested prominently in wider
Germanic paganism
Germanic paganism or Germanic religion refers to the traditional, culturally significant religion of the Germanic peoples. With a chronological range of at least one thousand years in an area covering Scandinavia, the British Isles, modern Germ ...
. The name of the day is also related to the Latin name , "Day of
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...
" (the Roman god of war).
*
Wednesday
Wednesday is the day of the week between Tuesday and Thursday. According to international standard ISO 8601, it is the third day of the week. In countries which have Friday as their holiday, Wednesday is the fifth day of the week. In countries ...
: Old English () meaning the day of the Germanic god
Woden
Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered Æsir, god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, v ...
(known as
Óðinn
Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, victory, ...
among the North Germanic peoples), and a prominent god of the Anglo-Saxons (and other Germanic peoples) in England until about the seventh century. This corresponds to the Latin counterpart , "Day of
Mercury
Mercury commonly refers to:
* Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun
* Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg
* Mercury (mythology), a Roman god
Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to:
Companies
* Merc ...
", as both are deities of magic and knowledge. The German ''Mittwoch'', the Low German , the ''miðviku-'' in Icelandic and the Finnish all mean "mid-week".
*
Thursday
Thursday is the Names of the days of the week, day of the week between Wednesday and Friday. According to the ISO 8601 international standard, it is the fourth day of the week. In countries which adopt the "Sunday-first" convention, it is the fi ...
: Old English (), meaning ''s day'. means
thunder
Thunder is the sound caused by lightning. Depending upon the distance from and nature of the lightning, it can range from a long, low rumble to a sudden, loud crack. The sudden increase in temperature and hence pressure caused by the lightning pr ...
or its personification, the Norse god known in Modern English as
Thor
Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred groves ...
. Similarly Dutch , German ('thunder's day'), Finnish , and Scandinavian ('Thor's day'). "Thor's day" corresponds to Latin , "day of
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but ...
" (the Roman god of thunder).
*
Friday
Friday is the day of the week between Thursday and Saturday. In countries that adopt the traditional "Sunday-first" convention, it is the sixth day of the week. In countries adopting the ISO-defined "Monday-first" convention, it is the fifth day ...
: Old English (), meaning the day of the Anglo-Saxon goddess . The Norse name for the planet Venus was , '
Frigg
Frigg (; Old Norse: ) is a goddess, one of the Æsir, in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about her, she is associated with marriage, prophecy, clairvoyance and motherhood, and dwells in the wet ...
's star'. It is based on the Latin , "Day of
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never fa ...
".
*
Saturday
Saturday is the day of the week between Friday and Sunday. No later than the 2nd century, the Romans named Saturday ("Saturn's Day") for the planet Saturn, which controlled the first hour of that day, according to Vettius Valens. The day's na ...
: named after the Roman god
Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; h ...
associated with the Titan
Cronus
In Ancient Greek religion and mythology, Cronus, Cronos, or Kronos ( or , from el, Κρόνος, ''Krónos'') was the leader and youngest of the first generation of Titans, the divine descendants of the primordial Gaia (Mother Earth) and ...
, father of Zeus and many Olympians. Its original Anglo-Saxon rendering was (). In Latin, it was , "Day of Saturn". The Nordic ''laugardagur'', ''leygardagur'', ''laurdag'', etc. deviate significantly as they have no reference to either the Norse or the Roman pantheon; they derive from
Old Nordic Old Nordic may refer to:
* Old Norse (Old Scandinavian), the most usual meaning
* Proto-Norse
Proto-Norse (also called Ancient Nordic, Ancient Scandinavian, Ancient Norse, Primitive Norse, Proto-Nordic, Proto-Scandinavian and Proto-North Germa ...
, literally "washing-day". The German (mainly used in northern and eastern Germany) and the Low German mean "Sunday Eve"; the German word derives from the name for
Shabbat
Shabbat (, , or ; he, שַׁבָּת, Šabbāṯ, , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week—i.e., Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical storie ...
.
Adoptions from Germanic
Hindu tradition
Hindu astrology
Jyotisha or Jyotishya (from Sanskrit ', from ' “light, heavenly body" and ''ish'' - from Isvara or God) is the traditional Hindu system of astrology, also known as Hindu astrology, Indian astrology and more recently Vedic astrology. It is one ...
uses the concept of days under the regency of a planet under the term ''vāsara'', the days of the week being called ''
āditya-,
soma
Soma may refer to:
Businesses and brands
* SOMA (architects), a New York–based firm of architects
* Soma (company), a company that designs eco-friendly water filtration systems
* SOMA Fabrications, a builder of bicycle frames and other bicycle ...
-,
maṅgala-,
budha
Budha ( sa, बुध) is a Sanskrit word that connotes the planet Mercury. Budha, in Hindu legends, is also a deity.
He is also known as Soumya (Sanskrit: सौम्य, lit. ''son of Moon''), Rauhineya and Tunga and is the Nakshatra lo ...
-,
guru-,
śukra-,'' and ''
śani-vāsara''. ''śukrá'' is a name of Venus (regarded as a son of
Bhṛgu); ''
guru
Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverentia ...
'' is here a title of
Bṛhaspati
Brihaspati ( sa, बृहस्पति, ), also known as Guru, is a Hindu deity. In the ancient Vedic scriptures of Hinduism, Brihaspati is a deity associated with fire, and the word also refers to a rishi (sage) who counsels the devas ( ...
, and hence of Jupiter; ''budha'' "Mercury" is regarded as a son of ''Soma'', i.e. the Moon. Knowledge of
Greek astrology
Hellenistic astrology is a tradition of horoscopic astrology that was developed and practiced in the late Hellenistic period in and around the Mediterranean Basin region, especially in Egypt. The texts and technical terminology of this tradition ...
existed since about the 2nd century BC, but references to the ''vāsara'' occur somewhat later, during the
Gupta period
The Gupta Empire was an ancient Indian empire which existed from the early 4th century CE to late 6th century CE. At its zenith, from approximately 319 to 467 CE, it covered much of the Indian subcontinent. This period is considered as the Gol ...
(''
Yājñavalkya Smṛti
The ''Yajnavalkya Smriti'' ( sa, याज्ञवल्क्य स्मृति, IAST: ') is one of the many Dharma-related texts of Hinduism composed in Sanskrit. It is dated between the 3rd to 5th-century CE, and belongs to the Dharmas ...
'', c. 3rd to 5th century), i.e. at roughly the same period or before the system was introduced in the Roman Empire.
In languages of the Indian subcontinent
Southeast Asian languages
The
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...
n tradition also uses the Hindu names of the days of the week.
Hindu astrology
Jyotisha or Jyotishya (from Sanskrit ', from ' “light, heavenly body" and ''ish'' - from Isvara or God) is the traditional Hindu system of astrology, also known as Hindu astrology, Indian astrology and more recently Vedic astrology. It is one ...
adopted the concept of days under the regency of a planet under the term ''vāra'', the days of the week being called ''
āditya-,
soma
Soma may refer to:
Businesses and brands
* SOMA (architects), a New York–based firm of architects
* Soma (company), a company that designs eco-friendly water filtration systems
* SOMA Fabrications, a builder of bicycle frames and other bicycle ...
-,
maṅgala-,
budha
Budha ( sa, बुध) is a Sanskrit word that connotes the planet Mercury. Budha, in Hindu legends, is also a deity.
He is also known as Soumya (Sanskrit: सौम्य, lit. ''son of Moon''), Rauhineya and Tunga and is the Nakshatra lo ...
-, guru-,
śukra-,'' and ''
śani-vāra''. ''śukrá'' is a name of Venus (regarded as a son of
Bhṛgu); ''
guru
Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverentia ...
'' is here a title of
Bṛhaspati
Brihaspati ( sa, बृहस्पति, ), also known as Guru, is a Hindu deity. In the ancient Vedic scriptures of Hinduism, Brihaspati is a deity associated with fire, and the word also refers to a rishi (sage) who counsels the devas ( ...
, and hence of Jupiter; ''budha'' "Mercury" is regarded as a son of ''Soma'', i.e. the Moon.
Northeast Asian languages
East Asian tradition
The
East Asian
East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea a ...
naming system for the days of the week closely parallels that of the Latin system and is ordered after the "Seven Luminaries" (七曜 ''qī yào''), which consists of the Sun, Moon and the five planets visible to the naked eye.
The Chinese had apparently adopted the seven-day week from the Hellenistic system by the 4th century, although by which route is not entirely clear. It was again transmitted to China in the 8th century by Manichaeans, via the country of
Kang (a Central Asian polity near
Samarkand
fa, سمرقند
, native_name_lang =
, settlement_type = City
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from the top:Registan square, Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, Bibi-Khanym Mosque, view inside Shah-i-Zinda, ...
).
The 4th-century date, according to the ''
Cihai
The ''Cihai'' is a large-scale dictionary and encyclopedia of Standard Mandarin Chinese. The Zhonghua Book Company published the first ''Cihai'' edition in 1938, and the Shanghai Lexicographical Publishing House revised editions in 1979, 1989, 19 ...
'' encyclopedia, is due to a reference to Fan Ning (范寧), an astrologer of the
Jin Dynasty. The renewed adoption from Manichaeans in the 8th century (
Tang Dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...
) is documented with the writings of the Chinese Buddhist monk
Yijing
The ''I Ching'' or ''Yi Jing'' (, ), usually translated ''Book of Changes'' or ''Classic of Changes'', is an ancient Chinese divination text that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics. Originally a divination manual in the Western Zhou ...
and the Ceylonese Buddhist monk
Bu Kong.
The Chinese transliteration of the planetary system was soon brought to
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
by the Japanese monk
Kobo Daishi; surviving diaries of the Japanese statesman
Fujiwara no Michinaga
was a Japanese statesman. The Fujiwara clan's control over Japan and its politics reached its zenith under his leadership.
Early life
Michinaga was born in Kyōto, the son of Kaneiye. Kaneiye had become Regent in 986, holding the position unti ...
show the seven-day system in use in
Heian Period
The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese. ...
Japan as early as 1007. In Japan, the seven-day system was kept in use (for astrological purposes) until its promotion to a full-fledged (Western-style) calendrical basis during the
Meiji era. In China, with the founding of the
Republic of China
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
in 1911, Monday through Saturday in China are now named after the luminaries implicitly with the numbers.
:''Pronunciations for Classical Chinese names are given in
Standard Chinese
Standard Chinese ()—in linguistics Standard Northern Mandarin or Standard Beijing Mandarin, in common speech simply Mandarin, better qualified as Standard Mandarin, Modern Standard Mandarin or Standard Mandarin Chinese—is a modern Standar ...
.''
Numbered days of the week
Days numbered from Monday
The
ISO
ISO is the most common abbreviation for the International Organization for Standardization.
ISO or Iso may also refer to: Business and finance
* Iso (supermarket), a chain of Danish supermarkets incorporated into the SuperBest chain in 2007
* Iso ...
prescribes
Monday
Monday is the day of the week between Sunday and Tuesday. According to the International Organization for Standardization's ISO 8601 standard, it is the first day of the week and in countries that adopt the "Sunday-first" convention, it is ...
as the first day of the week with
ISO-8601 for software date formats.
The
Slavic,
Baltic
Baltic may refer to:
Peoples and languages
* Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian
*Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originati ...
and
Uralic languages
The Uralic languages (; sometimes called Uralian languages ) form a language family of 38 languages spoken by approximately 25million people, predominantly in Northern Eurasia. The Uralic languages with the most native speakers are Hungarian (w ...
(except Finnish and partially Estonian and Võro) adopted numbering but took Monday rather than Sunday as the "first day". This convention is also found in some
Austronesian languages whose speakers were converted to Christianity by European missionaries.
In Slavic languages, some of the names correspond to numerals after Sunday: compare Russian ''vtornik'' () "Tuesday" and ''vtoroj'' () "the second", ''chetverg'' () "Thursday" and ''chetvjortyj'' () "the fourth", ''pyatnitsa'' () "Friday" and ''pyatyj'' () "the fifth"; see also
the Notes
''The Notes'' is a novel by Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Prize-winning author José Saramago. It was first published in 1976.
References
Novels by José Saramago
1976 novels
20th-century Portuguese novels
Portuguese-language novels
...
.
In
Standard Chinese
Standard Chinese ()—in linguistics Standard Northern Mandarin or Standard Beijing Mandarin, in common speech simply Mandarin, better qualified as Standard Mandarin, Modern Standard Mandarin or Standard Mandarin Chinese—is a modern Standar ...
, the week is referred to as the "Stellar Period" () or "Cycle" ().
The modern Chinese names for the days of the week are based on a simple numerical sequence. The word for "week" is followed by a number indicating the day: "Monday" is literally the "Stellar Period One"/"Cycle One", i.e. the "First day of the Stellar Period/Cycle", etc. The exception is Sunday, where 日 (''rì''), "day" or "Sun", is used instead of a number. A slightly informal and colloquial variant to 日 is 天 (''tiān'') "day", "sky" or "heaven".
Accordingly, the notational abbreviation of the days of the week uses the numbers, e.g. 一 for "M" or "Mon(.)", "Monday". Note that the abbreviation of Sunday uses exclusively 日 and not 天. Attempted usage of 天 as such will not be understood.
Colloquially, the week is also known as the "Prayer" (), with the names of the days of the week formed accordingly.
The following is a table of the Mandarin names of the days of the weeks. Note that standard Taiwan Mandarin pronounces 期 as ''qí'', so 星期 is instead ''xīngqí''. While all varieties of Mandarin may pronounce 星期 as ''xīngqi'' and 禮拜/礼拜 as ''lǐbai'', the second syllable with the neutral tone, this is not reflected in the table either for legibility.
Several Sinitic languages refer to Saturday as 週末 "end of the week" and Sunday as 禮拜. Examples include
Shenyang Mandarin, Hanyuan
Sichuanese Sichuanese, Szechuanese or Szechwanese may refer to something of, from, or related to the Chinese province and region of Sichuan (Szechwan/Szechuan) (historically and culturally including Chongqing), especially:
*Sichuanese people, a subgroup of the ...
Mandarin,
Taishanese
Taishanese (), alternatively romanized in Cantonese as Toishanese or Toisanese, in local dialect as Hoisanese or Hoisan-wa, is a dialect of Yue Chinese native to Taishan, Guangdong. Although it is related to Cantonese, Taishanese has little ...
,
Yudu Hakka,
Teochew,
Ningbonese, and Loudi
Old Xiang
Old Xiang, also known as Lou-Shao (娄邵片 / 婁邵片), is a conservative Xiang Chinese language. It is spoken in the central areas of Hunan where it has been to some extent isolated from the neighboring Chinese languages, Southwestern Mandarin ...
. Some
Hakka varieties in Taiwan still use the traditional Luminaries.
Days numbered from Sunday
Sunday comes first in order in calendars shown in the table below. In the
Abrahamic tradition, the first day of the week is
Sunday
Sunday is the day of the week between Saturday and Monday. In most Western countries, Sunday is a day of rest and a part of the weekend. It is often considered the first day of the week.
For most observant adherents of Christianity, Sunday ...
.
Biblical Sabbath
The Sabbath is a weekly day of rest or time of worship given in the Bible as the seventh day. It is observed differently in Judaism and Christianity and informs a similar occasion in several other faiths. Observation and remembrance of Sabbath ...
(corresponding to Saturday) is when
God
In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...
rested from
six-day Creation, making the day following the Sabbath the first day of the week (corresponding to Sunday).
Seventh-day Sabbath
The seventh-day Sabbath, observed from Friday evening to Saturday evening, is an important part of the beliefs and practices of seventh-day churches. These churches emphasize biblical references such as the ancient Hebrew practice of beginning a ...
s were sanctified for celebration and rest. After the week was adopted in early Christianity, Sunday remained the first day of the week, but also gradually displaced Saturday as the
day of celebration and rest, being considered the
Lord's Day
The Lord's Day in Christianity is generally Sunday, the principal day of communal worship. It is observed by most Christians as the weekly memorial of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is said in the canonical Gospels to have been witnessed al ...
.
Saint Martin of Dumio (c. 520–580
0520–10580, archbishop of
Braga
Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (in ...
, decided not to call days by pagan gods and to use ecclesiastic terminology to designate them. While the custom of numbering the days of the week was mostly prevalent in the
Eastern Church
Eastern Christianity comprises Christian traditions and church families that originally developed during classical and late antiquity in Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, Asia Minor, the Caucasus, Northeast Africa, the Fertile Crescent and ...
, Portuguese, Mirandese and Galician, due to Martin's influence, are the only
Romance languages
The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language fam ...
in which the names of the days come from numbers rather than planetary names.
Members of the
Religious Society of Friends
Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...
(Quakers) historically objected to the pagan etymologies of days and months and substituted numbering, beginning with First Day for Sunday.
Icelandic is a special case within the Germanic languages, maintaining only the Sun and Moon (''sunnudagur'' and ''mánudagur'' respectively), while dispensing with the names of the explicitly heathen gods in favour of a combination of numbered days and days whose names are linked to pious or domestic routine (''föstudagur'', "Fasting Day" and ''laugardagur'', "Washing Day"). The "washing day" is also used in other
North Germanic languages
The North Germanic languages make up one of the three branches of the Germanic languages—a sub-family of the Indo-European languages—along with the West Germanic languages and the extinct East Germanic languages. The language group is also r ...
, but otherwise the names correspond to those of English.
Days numbered from Saturday
In Swahili, the day begins at sunrise, unlike in the Arabic and Hebrew calendars where the day starts at sunset (therefore an offset of twelve hours on average), and unlike in the Western world where the day starts at midnight (therefore an offset of six hours on average). Saturday is therefore the first day of the week, as it is the day that includes the first night of the week in Arabic.
Etymologically speaking, Swahili has two "fifth" days. The words for Saturday through Wednesday contain the Bantu-derived Swahili words for "one" through "five". The word for Thursday, ''Alhamisi'', is of Arabic origin and means "the fifth" (day). The word for Friday, ''Ijumaa'', is also Arabic and means (day of) "gathering" for the Friday noon prayers in Islam.
Mixing of numbering and astronomy
In the Žejane dialect of
Istro-Romanian, ''lur'' (Monday) and ''virer'' (Friday) follow the Latin convention, while ''utorek'' (Tuesday), ''sredu'' (Wednesday), and ''četrtok'' (Thursday) follow the Slavic convention.
There are several systems in the different Basque dialects.
Astronomy and Basque Language
', Henrike Knörr, ''Oxford VI and SEAC 99 "Astronomy and Cultural Diversity"'', La Laguna
LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States.
La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* La (musical note), or A, the sixth note
* "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...
, June 1999. It references Alessandro Bausani
Alessandro Bausani (Rome, May 29, 1921 – Rome, March 12, 1988) was a scholar of Islam, Arab and Persian studies, interlinguistics and the History of Religion, translating many works into Italian. He was one of the greatest Italian scholars of ...
, 1982, ''The prehistoric Basque week of three days: archaeoastronomical notes'', ''The Bulletin of the Center for Archaeoastronomy'' (Maryland), v. 2, 16–22.
In Judaeo-Spanish (Ladino), which is mainly based on a medieval version of Spanish, the five days of Monday–Friday closely follow the
Spanish names
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
. Sunday uses the Arabic name, which is based on numbering, because a Jewish language was not likely to adapt a name based on "Lord's Day" for Sunday. As in Spanish, the Ladino name for Saturday is based on ''Sabbath''. However, as a
Jewish language
Jewish languages are the various languages and dialects that developed in Jewish communities in the diaspora. The original Jewish language is Hebrew, supplanted as the primary vernacular by Aramaic following the Babylonian exile. Jewish langua ...
—and with Saturday being the actual day of rest in the Jewish community—Ladino directly adapted the Hebrew name, ''
Shabbat
Shabbat (, , or ; he, שַׁבָּת, Šabbāṯ, , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week—i.e., Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical storie ...
''.
The days of the week in
Meitei language
Meitei (), also known as Manipuri (, ), is a Tibeto-Burman language of north-eastern India. It is spoken by around 1.8 million people, predominantly in the state of Manipur, but also by smaller communities in the rest of the country and in pa ...
(officially known as
Manipuri language
Meitei (), also known as Manipuri (, ), is a Tibeto-Burman language of north-eastern India. It is spoken by around 1.8 million people, predominantly in the state of Manipur, but also by smaller communities in the rest of the country and in pa ...
) originated from the
Sanamahi creation myth
The Sanamahi creation myth is the traditional creation myth of Sanamahism, a religion of the Meitei, Chothe, Komhreng, Kabui, Anāl, and, before their conversion to Christianity, Tangkhul people in Manipur, India.
Koubru, the first pla ...
of
Meitei mythology
Meitei mythology or Manipuri mythology ( mni, Meitei Mi Lai Tingi Wari) is a collection of myths, belonging to the religious and cultural traditions of the Meitei people, the predominant ethnic group of Manipur. It is associated with tradi ...
.
See also
*
Akan names of the seven-day week, known as ''Nawotwe''
*
Bahá'í calendar (section Weekdays)
*
Calculating the day of the week
The determination of the day of the week for any date may be performed with a variety of algorithms. In addition, perpetual calendars require no calculation by the user, and are essentially lookup tables.
A typical application is to calculate the ...
*
Week
A week is a unit of time equal to seven days. It is the standard time period used for short cycles of days in most parts of the world. The days are often used to indicate common work days and rest days, as well as days of worship. Weeks are ofte ...
*
Work Week
The weekdays and weekend are the complementary parts of the week devoted to labour and rest, respectively. The legal weekdays (British English), or workweek (American English), is the part of the seven-day week devoted to working. In most of th ...
*
Feria
In the liturgy of the Catholic Church, a feria is a day of the week other than Sunday.
In more recent official liturgical texts in English, the term ''weekday'' is used instead of ''feria''.
If the feast day of a saint falls on such a day, the ...
Notes
Sunday
From Latin () or Greek ()
Holy Day and First-Day of the Week (Day of the Sun -> Light -> Resurrection -> Born again) (
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
)
Resurrection
Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. In a number of religions, a dying-and-rising god is a deity which dies and is resurrected. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions, which ...
(
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
)
Bazaar
A bazaar () or souk (; also transliterated as souq) is a marketplace consisting of multiple small Market stall, stalls or shops, especially in the Middle East, the Balkans, North Africa and India. However, temporary open markets elsewhere, suc ...
Day
Market Day
No Work
Full good day
Borrowed from English ''week''
From an
Old Burmese
Old Burmese was an early form of the Burmese language, as attested in the stone inscriptions of Pagan, and is the oldest phase of Burmese linguistic history. The transition to Middle Burmese occurred in the 16th century. The transition to Middle ...
word, not of Indic origin.
Monday
After No Work
After
Bazaar
A bazaar () or souk (; also transliterated as souq) is a marketplace consisting of multiple small Market stall, stalls or shops, especially in the Middle East, the Balkans, North Africa and India. However, temporary open markets elsewhere, suc ...
Head of Week
Master (as in
Pir, because
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...
was born on a Monday)
From an
Old Burmese
Old Burmese was an early form of the Burmese language, as attested in the stone inscriptions of Pagan, and is the oldest phase of Burmese linguistic history. The transition to Middle Burmese occurred in the 16th century. The transition to Middle ...
word, not of Indic origin.
First day of the week
Tuesday
Thing
Thing or The Thing may refer to:
Philosophy
* An object
* Broadly, an entity
* Thing-in-itself (or ''noumenon''), the reality that underlies perceptions, a term coined by Immanuel Kant
* Thing theory, a branch of critical theory that focuses ...
(Assembly), of which god
Tyr/Ziu was the patron.
Second day of the week (
cf.
The abbreviation ''cf.'' (short for the la, confer/conferatur, both meaning "compare") is used in writing to refer the reader to other material to make a comparison with the topic being discussed. Style guides recommend that ''cf.'' be used onl ...
Hungarian 'two')
Third day of the week.
From
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
'third day'
From
Proto-Slavic
Proto-Slavic (abbreviated PSl., PS.; also called Common Slavic or Common Slavonic) is the Attested language, unattested, linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed proto-language of all Slavic languages. It represents Slavic speech approximately ...
'second'
Wednesday
Mid-week ''or'' Middle
The First Fast (
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
)
Third day of the week
Thursday
The day between two fasts (''An Dé idir dhá aoin'', contracted to ''An Déardaoin'') (
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
)
Five
(Arabic)
Fifth day of the week.
Fourth day of the week.
Friday
The Fast
Man 2 Man (also known as Man to Man) was an American Hi-NRG band from New York City, that formed in the early 1980s. It was best known for their hit singles "Male Stripper", "Energy Is Eurobeat" and "I Need a Man".
Beginnings: The Fast
The Fast ...
(Celtic) or
Fasting Day (Icelandic) (
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
)
Good Friday or Preparation (
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
)
Jumu'ah
In Islam, Friday prayer or Congregational prayer ( ar, صَلَاة ٱلْجُمُعَة, ') is a prayer ('' ṣalāt'') that Muslims hold every Friday, after noon instead of the Zuhr prayer. Muslims ordinarily pray five times each day according ...
(
Friday Prayer
In Islam, Friday prayer or Congregational prayer ( ar, صَلَاة ٱلْجُمُعَة, ') is a prayer ('' ṣalāt'') that Muslims hold every Friday, after noon instead of the Zuhr prayer. Muslims ordinarily pray five times each day according ...
)
Gathering/Assembly/Meeting (
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
) – in Malta with no Islamic connotations
Fifth day of the week
Borrowed from Germanic languages
Or canàbara, cenàbara, cenàbera, cenàbura, cenarba, chenàbara, chenabra, chenapra, chenàpura, chenarpa, chenàura, cianàbara, chenabura; meaning holy supper as preparation to the sabbathday(Saturday)
Saturday
''
Shabbat
Shabbat (, , or ; he, שַׁבָּת, Šabbāṯ, , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week—i.e., Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical storie ...
'' (
Jewish and Christian Sabbath)
Wash ''or'' Bath day
Sun-eve (Eve of Sunday)
After the
Gathering
Gather, gatherer, or gathering may refer to:
Anthropology and sociology
* Hunter-gatherer, a person or a society whose subsistence depends on hunting and gathering of wild foods
*Intensive gathering, the practice of cultivating wild plants as a s ...
(
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
)
End of the Week (
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
'rest')
Week
Half good day
Half day
References
Further reading
*
*
* Neugebauer, Otto (1979). ''Ethiopic astronomy and computus'', Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, philosophisch-historische klasse, sitzungsberichte, 347 (Vienna)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Week-Day Names
Names of units of time
*
History of astrology
Days of the week
A day is the time period of a full rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. On average, this is 24 hours, 1440 minutes, or 86,400 seconds. In everyday life, the word "day" often refers to a solar day, which is the length between two so ...
Legacy of the Roman Empire