The Origins of the Names of the Days of the Week

by Read Listen Learn


Most countries have seven days of the week, but they call them by different names. Where do these names come from? And is Sunday in England the same as Sunday in Saudi Arabia, for example?

Sunday

In many languages in southern Europe, the name of Sunday changed from the name of the old Roman sun god of 2,000 years ago to the Christian 'God's Day', but in Slavic languages in eastern Europe they say 'the day of no work'. In the United Arab Emirates and Bangladesh, it's the first working day of the week. In Saudi Arabia and Oman, they have just changed the working week, so that Sunday is the first working day, not the second.

In Germanic and Indian languages, however, we still use the old pre-Christian name meaning the 'day of the sun'. This comes from an old German myth. It tells us that a man called Mundilfar had two beautiful children. The boy was so lovely that his father called him 'Sun'. The gods were angry and jealous of the name and made him live in the sky.

In the Christian religion, Sunday is a day for God. Some people don't do any work on this day, even gardening.

Monday

In Slavic languages, the name for Monday means 'the day after the holiday' and in Arabic and Chinese, it is called only 'day number two'. In French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese, which are in the same language family as Latin, it is the 'day of the moon'. (The Romans called the day by this name and in Latin 'moon' is 'luna' and so, in French, for example, they use 'lundi' for Monday. 'Luna' and 'lundi' - you can see they come from the same word.)

After the end of the Roman Empire around 400 B.C.E., the Germans translated the Latin names for many days to their language. In north European languages, then, Monday comes from the word 'moon'. (In Dutch, the language of Holland, for instance, 'maan' is 'moon' and 'maandag' is Monday.) The old German myth about Mundilfar's children tells us about Mani, the beautiful sister of 'Sun'. She went to live in the sky with her brother but two wolves chase her across the sky every night.

Mondays are not happy days. Women did their washing in England on Mondays. That was before the days of washing machines and so it was a lot of hard work.

Tuesday

Tuesday comes from the old German name for the god of justice and war, Tiwe. He had only one hand because a wolf ate the right one. He was a very brave god and put his hand in a wolf's mouth so that other gods could catch the animal while it ate him. At one time, Tiwe was the most important god but later Woden took his place.

The Germans changed the Latin name which came from the Roman god of war, Mars. So, in Spanish, another language in the same family as Latin, for instance, Tuesday is 'martes'.

Wednesday

In Old English, Wednesday meant 'Woden's day'. Woden was, in some ways, the same as the Roman god, Mercury - in Italian, the modern language they use in Rome, the word for Wednesday is 'mercoledi'. Woden liked music and poetry, the same as Mercury. He was an old man with one eye and a big beard. He walked all over the world and looked after people's souls. He was the most important god in Anglo Saxon mythology.

Thursday

Thursday comes from the Norse god of thunder, Thor. The Romans thought that Jupiter was the god of thunder and so southern European languages still use this name (except Portuguese, which calls Thursday 'day number five', just like Chinese and Arabic). So, in Catalan, the language they speak in Barcelona, the word is 'Dijous' - the day of Jupiter.

Thor was a very handsome god and very strong too. He always carried a hammer and he could break mountains with it. He killed his enemies but looked after people. He was a very popular god.

Thursday is very popular in Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and some other Arab countries, because it is the last day of the working week. The next day, a lot of people can stay in bed and so they stay up late on Thursday night.

Friday

In Roman times, they gave the name of the goddess Venus to Friday. She was the goddess of love and beauty. The Germans changed the name to Friday after the Norse goddess Frige. She was also important for love and so many people went to her if they wanted happy marriages.

Friday is called 'juma' in Arabic and Turkish (cuma) and is the most important day of the week in Islam, when everyone goes to the mosque. Jews start their most important religious day at sunset on Friday. They eat flat bread and salt to remember the difficult times when they were hungry, before they have their evening meal.

Saturday

Saturday is the only day in English, German and Dutch that keeps the Latin word, Saturn, also the name of the planet with rings round it. In the Ancient Greek and Roman religions, Saturn was the father of the greatest god Zeus (in Greece) and Jupiter (in Rome).

The Jewish word for Saturday (sabat) is nearly the same as the Arabic (sebt) and Portuguese (sabado). But on Saturday, the Jews have a day of rest and go to the synagogue.

The Scandinavian countries did not keep the Roman name. They call Saturday 'Lördag' or 'washing day'. Of course, in England, women did their washing on Mondays. Perhaps the only thing that is true all over the world is that it's always women who do the washing!