Monday is the

day of the week In many languages, the names given to the seven days of the week are derived from the names of the classical planets in Hellenistic astronomy, which were in turn named after contemporary deities, a system introduced by the Sumerians and late ...

between Sunday and

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 ...

. According to the

International Organization for Standardization The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ) is an international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. Membership requirements are given in Art ...

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, w ...

standard, it is the first day 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 of ...

and in countries that adopt the "Sunday-first" convention, it is the second day of the week. The name of Monday is derived from

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

''Mōnandæg'' and

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English ...

''Monenday'', originally a translation of

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''dies lunae'' "day of the

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 ...

Names

The names of the day of the week were coined in the

Roman era In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

, in Greek language, Greek and Latin, in the case of Monday as ἡμέρᾱ Selene, Σελήνης, ''diēs Lūnae'' "day of the Moon". Many languages use terms either directly derived from these names or loan translations based on them. The English noun ''Monday'' derived sometime before 1200 from ''monedæi'', which itself developed from

(around 1000) ''mōnandæg'' and ''mōndæg'' (literally meaning "moon's day"), which has cognates in other Germanic languages, including Old Frisian ''mōnadeig'', Middle Low German and Middle Dutch ''mānendag, mānendach'' (modern Dutch language, Dutch ''Maandag''), Old High German ''mānetag'' (modern German language, German ''Montag''), and Old Norse ''mánadagr'' (Swedish language, Swedish and Norwegian language, Norwegian nynorsk ''måndag'', Icelandic language, Icelandic ''mánudagur''. Danish language, Danish and Norwegian language, Norwegian bokmål ''mandag''). The Germanic term is a Interpretatio graeca, Germanic interpretation of

''lunae dies'' ("day of the moon").Barnhart (1995:485). Japanese language, Japanese and Korean language, Korean share the same ancient Written Chinese, Chinese words '月曜日' (Hiragana:げつようび, Transliteration, translit. ''getsuyо̄bi'', Hangul:월요일) for Monday which means "day of the moon". In many Indo-Aryan languages, the word for Monday is ''Somavāra'' or ''Chandravāra'', Sanskrit loan-translations of "Monday". In some cases, the "ecclesiastical" names are used, a tradition of numbering the days of the week in order to avoid the "pagan" connotation of the planetary names, and to keep with the biblical name, in which Monday is the "second day" (Hebrew יום שני, Greek Δευτέρα ἡμέρα (''Deutéra hēméra''), Latin ''feria secunda, Arabic الأثنين''). In many Slavic languages the name of the day translates to "after Sunday/holiday". Russian language, Russian ''понедельник'' (''ponyedyelnik'') literally translated, Monday means "next to the week", по "next to" or "on" недельник "(the) week" Croatian language, Croatian and Bosnian language, Bosnian ''ponedjeljak'', Serbian language, Serbian ''понедељак'' (''ponedeljak''), Ukrainian language, Ukrainian ''понеділок'' (''ponedilok''), Bulgarian language, Bulgarian ''понеделник'' (''ponedelnik''), Polish language, Polish ''poniedziałek'', Czech language, Czech ''pondělí'', Slovak language, Slovak ''pondelok'', Slovenian language, Slovenian ''ponedeljek''. In Turkish it is called ''pazartesi'', which also means "after Sunday".

Arrangement in the week

Historically, the Greco-Roman week began with Sunday (''dies solis''), and Monday (''dies lunae'') was the second day of the week. It is still the custom to refer to Monday as ''feria secunda'' in the Liturgical year, liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church. Religious Society of Friends, Quakers also traditionally referred to Monday as "Second Day". The Portuguese language, Portuguese and the Greek language, Greek (Eastern Orthodox Church) also retain the ecclesiastical tradition (Portuguese ''segunda-feira'', Greek ''Δευτέρα'' "''deutéra''" "second"). Likewise, the Modern Hebrew name for Monday is ''yom-sheni'' (יום שני). While in North America Sunday is the first day of the week, the Geneva-based

places Monday as the first day of the week in its

standard. Monday is ''xīngqīyī (星期一)'' in Chinese language, Chinese, meaning "day one of the week".

Religious observances

Christianity

In the Eastern Orthodox Church Mondays are days on which the Angels are commemorated. The Octoechos (liturgy), Octoechos contains hymns on this theme, arranged in an eight-week cycle, that are chanted on Mondays throughout the year. At the end of Divine Services on Monday, the dismissal (liturgy), dismissal begins with the words: "May Christ our True God, through the intercession, s of his most-pure Theotokos, Mother, of the honorable, Bodiless Powers (i.e., the angels) of Heaven…". In many Eastern monastery, monasteries Mondays are observed as Fasting#Eastern Orthodoxy, fast days; because Mondays are dedicated to the angels, and monks strive to live an angelic life. In these monasteries, the monks abstain from meat, fowl, dairy products, fish, wine and oil (if a feast day occurs on a Monday, fish, wine and oil may be allowed, depending upon the particular feast). The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spend one evening per week called Family Home Evening (FHE) or Family Night usually Monday, that families are encouraged to spend together in study, prayer and other family activities. Many businesses owned by Latter-Day Saints close early on Mondays so they and their customers are able to spend more time with their families.

Islam

In Islam, Mondays are one of the days in a week in which Muslims are encouraged to do Fasting in Islam#Days of voluntary fasting, voluntary fasting, the other being Thursdays. There are a number of Hadith which narrated of Muhammad fasting on these days. According to the same Hadith, Muhammad was born on Monday. It is also narrated that he received his Muhammad's first revelation, first revelation (which would later become the Qur'an) on Monday.

Judaism

In Judaism Mondays are considered auspicious days for fasting. The Didache warned early Christians not to fast on Mondays to avoid Judaizers, Judaizing, and suggests Wednesdays instead. In Judaism, a small portion of the weekly Parashah in Torah is read in public on Monday and Thursday mornings, as a supplement for the Saturday reading). Special penitential prayers are recited on Monday unless there is a special occasion for happiness which cancels them. According to the Mishna and Talmud, these traditions are due to Monday and Thursday being "the market days" when people gathered from the towns to the city. A tradition of Ashkenazi Jews to voluntarily fast on the first consecutive Monday Thursday and Monday of the Hebrew month is prevalent among the ultra-orthodox. In Hebrew, Monday is called "Yom Shayne," meaning literally "Second Day" following the biblical reference to the sabbath day as the "Seventh-day" and the tradition of that day being on Saturday. It has been established that the phonetic and cultural link between the planet Saturn, Saturday and the Sabbath day is of ancient Mesopotamian origin.

Cultural references

A number of popular songs in Western culture feature Monday, often as a day of depression, anxiety, avolition, hysteria, or melancholy (mostly because of its association with the first day of the workweek). For example, "Monday, Monday" (1966) from the Mamas & the Papas, "Rainy Days and Mondays" (1971) from the The Carpenters, Carpenters, "I Don't Like Mondays" (1979) from the The Boomtown Rats, Boomtown Rats, Monday, Monday, Monday (2002) from Tegan and Sara, and "Manic Monday" (1986) from the The Bangles, Bangles (written by Prince (musician), Prince). There is a band named the Happy Mondays and an American pop-punk band Hey Monday. The popular comic strip character Garfield (character), Garfield by Jim Davis is well known for his disdain for Mondays. In the United Kingdom, more people commit suicide in England and Wales on Mondays than other days of the week; more people in the country in general call in sick; and more people worldwide surf the web. In July 2002, the consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers announced that it would rename its consultancy practice "Monday", and would spend $110 million over the next year to establish the brand. When IBM acquired the consultancy three months later it chose not to retain the new name. On October 17, 2022, Guinness World Records announced on Twitter that Monday is the '''Worst Day of the Week, to the dismay of some people.

Named days

* Big Monday * Black Monday * Blue Monday (date), Blue Monday * Clean Monday (Ash Monday) * Cyber Monday * Easter Monday, also Bright Monday or Wet Monday * First Monday * Handsel Monday * Lundi Gras * Mad Monday * Miracle Monday * Plough Monday * Shrove Monday * Wet Monday * Whit Monday

Notes

References

* Robert Barnhart, Barnhart, Robert K. (1995). ''The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology''. HarperCollins. {{Authority control Monday, Days of the week, 1 Monday Selene