Word Origins: Days of the Week
We already know that MONDAY is named after the Moon, in English and in many other languages. Where do the other days of the week get their names?
First we need to understand that the Romans had names for the days of the week, based on their gods. When the Roman and Germanic peoples met, they exchanged many ideas. Eventually, the Germanics followed Roman practice in setting up a calendar, but they substituted their own gods for the days of the week.
TUESDAY is Tiw’s day. Who?
This is one of the days named after Norse gods, the gods of the Germanic peoples who invaded England during the Old English period. Just like the Greeks and the Romans, the Norse believed in a whole group of gods, each with specific influence over human life. (They had no concept of a single almighty God, as Christians, Muslims and Jews believe.)
Tiw (also called Tyr) was the bravest of the Norse gods. The legend is that a monstrous wolf was destined to kill the supreme god, Odin, and thus bring about the end of the world. To prevent that, the gods tricked the wolf into being bound by playing a game. They told the wolf that they would chain him up but he would break his chains to show off his tremendous strength. The gods promised to let the wolf go if he was not able to break his chains. The wolf did not entirely believe the gods, so they agreed to put Tiw’s right hand into the wolf’s mouth as a sort of guarantee. Then the wolf let himself be chained, but the gods put a magically unbreakable kind of chain on him. The wolf struggled but could not get free, so he bit off Tiw’s hand. The world was saved, but Tiw lost a hand. Tiw reminds us of the Roman god of war, Mars, whose name shows up in other languages for this day (French mardi, Spanish martes).
WEDNESDAY is Woden’s day. Woden is another name for Odin, the supreme god of the Norse. They believed that Odin helped create the human race by giving birth to an ash tree and an elm tree, which became the first man and woman. He filled warriors with fury and he inspired poets. When the Romans first met the Germanic tribes, they thought that Woden resembled their clever god Mercury, so when the ancient Germanic peoples adopted the Roman calendar, they gave Woden’s name to the third day of the week, which is named after Mercury in other languages (French mercredi, Spanish miercoles).
THURSDAY is Thor’s day, named for the Norse god of thunder and lord of the sky. Thor threw thunderbolts to destroy the monsters that threatened both gods and men. This is like the Roman god Jupiter, who also threw thunderbolts at his enemies, and whose name also survives in the names for this day (French jeudi, Spanish jueves). The name Thor gives us our English words thunder and tornado.
FRIDAY is named for a lady, the ancient Norse goddess Frigg. Frigg was the goddess of love, the wife of the god Odin. The Old English name for this day was Frigedæg. Frigg’s name also gives us our modern words free and friend. The Roman goddess of love was Venus, and her name is given to this day in other languages (French vendredi, Spanish viernes).
SATURDAY is Saturn’s day – that’s right, a Roman, not a Norse god. The Romans worshiped Saturn as a harvest god, and apparently there was not a Norse god of the harvest that was important enough to have a day named after him. Saturn’s name continues to be used for this day in other languages as well (French samedi, Spanish sabado).
SUNDAY comes from the Old English Sunnandæg, an ancient translation of the Latin words for Sun’s Day. Interestingly, after Christianity came to the Roman Empire, this day was no longer named after the sun; it was called the Day of the Lord (dies domini). This is why many languages derived from Latin do not call this the Sun Day; in French it’s dimanche, and in Spanish, domingo.