Email us for help
Loading...
Premium support
Log Out
Our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy have changed. We think you'll like them better this way.
http://education.newarchaeology.com/days.php
The days of the week are named after ancient gods.
Sunday
The name is quite literally the Sun's Day. Attempts by the church to replace this remenant of pagan worship with 'The Lords Day' failed in northern europe but succeeded in southern europe where Dimanche (french) and Domingo (spanish) have their routes in the Latin dies Dominica which is literally "the Lord's day" .
Monday
The name Monday comes from the Old English Monandæg, meaning "day of the Moon";
Tuesday
Tuesday comes from the Old English Tiwesdæg, meaning "Tyr's day." Tyr was the Norse god of combat. In countries that didn't have a norse influence it is the "Day of Mars" (the Roman war god); In French this translates as mardi and in Spanish martes.
Wednesday
This name comes from the Old English Wodnesdæg meaning the day of the Woden or Odin, the father of the Gods. It is based on Latin dies Mercurii, "Day of Mercury"; in French mercredi and Spanish miércoles. The Germans have renamed this day as Mittwoch, which simply means middle of the week.