by Aldus Marius on Thu Nov 16, 2006 3:52 am
Salvete omnes,
There are two sets of day-names that I know of (others, of course, exist): the Romance and the Teutonic. Both are primarily based on deities, it's just a matter of which pantheon.
The English day-names belong to the Teutonic family, so honor the Norse deities; thus:
-- Monday (Moon's Day)
-- Tuesday (Tir's Day)
-- Wednesday (Woden's [Odin's or Wotan's] Day)
-- Thursday (Thor's Day)
-- Friday (Friga's Day)
...and then Saturday and Sunday get planet names. Go figure...
For the Romance contingent, which honors the Roman gods, I'll use Spanish:
-- Lunes (Moon's Day)
-- Martes (Mars' Day)
-- Miercoles (Mercury's Day)
-- Jueves (Jove's Day)
-- Viernes (Venus' Day)
-- Sabado (Sabbath, I think; in the early Church this was observed on Saturday)
-- Domingo (Lord's Day)
There are some interesting commonalities with these. Both honor Sun and Moon, especially if you consider Christ as one version of a Solar Redeemer. Both Tuesdays are named after war-gods. Thursdays bear the names of sky- or thunder-gods. Friday is a goddess. (Cubicle workers of the world rejoice!!)
The Romans themselves did not give names to particular days of the week. The Roman week was eight days long (a nundina), and its days were reckoned by their distance from one of the three monthly focal-points: the Kalends, the Nones, or the Ides. So rather than saying "I'll meet you by the fountain next Thursday", you'd tell your friend you'd see him there "nine days before the Kalends of December". (Only you'd say it in Latin...!) >({|;-)
In amicitia et fide,
Aldus Marius Peregrinus.