Weekday names and their meanings

Names of the days of the week and their meaning

11/20/15

In the well-known Sams series of German children's books by Paul Maar, the names of the days of the week play an important role. But what do they actually mean, and where do they come from? And what about the names of the days of the week in other countries?

A week of Saturdays – wouldn't that be nice? In the first volume of the famous “Sams” series of children's books by Paul Maar, the protagonist, Mr. Taschenbier, experiences just such a week.

In the world of the Sams series, the names of the days of the week are powerful enough to summon magical beings. But the magic only works after events corresponding to the weekdays' names have occurred: on Sunday the sun shines, on Monday Mr. Mon comes to visit, work (or “Dienst” in German) is on Tuesday (“Dienstag”), Wednesday (“Mittwoch”) is the middle (“Mitte”) of the week, on Thursday (“Donnerstag”) there's thunder (“Donner”), and Friday (“Freitag”) is free (“frei”) – then on Saturday (“Samstag”) the Sams arrives.

The series plays with the names of the week as its premise. But what do the names of the week actually mean, and where do they come from? And what about the names of the days of the week in other countries?

wochentagsnamen

Origin of the Seven-Day Week

Throughout the world and in all different cultures, the week is divided into seven days, something that's remained consistent for hundreds of years. There was an exception in the Soviet Union from 1929 to 1940, where for productivity reasons weekends were eliminated and the month was divided into five-day weeks, and later into six-day weeks. As the shift had negative consequences, the country returned to the seven-day week in 1940.

But let's look for a moment at the origins of the days of the week: in antiquity, the Etruscans used a nine-day week, as well as an eight-day week. This was, however, swiftly replaced by the Judaic seven-day week. Over the course of several centuries the concept spread – and not just of the seven-day week, but also the meanings of the names of the weekdays.

The Names of the Days of the Week are Planets and Gods

The weekdays take their names from Greek astrology – every day of the week was assigned to one of the heavenly bodies, which in turn got their names from the Greek and Roman pantheons.

Sunday – the sun
Monday – the moon
Tuesday – Mars
Wednesday – Mercury
Thursday – Jupiter
Friday – Venus
Saturday– Saturn

The seven gods of the heavenly bodies: Diana/Monday, Mars/Tuesday, Merkur/Wednesday, Jupiter/Thursday, Venus/Friday, Saturn/Saturday, Apollo/Sunday

When the days of the week were exported to the rest of the world, these connections to Greek mythology were maintained but modified to suit regional cultures and prevailing religions. And they weren't just conveyed to Western Europe – even in Asia, the names of the days of the week carry meanings similar to those of ours.

Even if most Germans no longer worship pagan gods, the names of our days have deep roots in German polytheism, as the names of the Greek gods were replaced with German deities when the seven-day system arrived. For the most part, we still use these terms (with certain shifts in pronunciation) today.

It's safe to say that East Asian astrology adopted the Roman-Hellenic system in the fourth century, assigning the five traditional Chinese elements as follows:

Fire – Mars
Water – Mercury
Wood – Jupiter
Metal – Venus
Earth – Saturn

Indian astrology adopted these assignments as well, using its own names for them.

The days of the week have also, in certain places, taken on other regional traditions: in Thailand, for example, every day is assigned a color, and the celebration of one's birthday is pegged more to the day of the week (Monday, for example) than the exact date.

But the days of the week themselves are similar in many parts of the earth – whether you're in England or India, Thailand or Japan, Monday is the day of the moon.

There is, however, an alternative to the sun, the moon, jupiter, etc.: in many countries the names of the days of the week are not related to old pantheons, but instead are simply numbered. The exceptions, however, prove the rule.

Some systems also differ in where they start: is Monday or Sunday the beginning of the week? In many countries the week begins on Sunday, but – especially in nations of the former Soviet Union – Monday is considered the first day of the week.

By the way – until the end of 1975 Sunday was the first day of the week in Germany until the corresponding DIN-Norm (a standard produced by the German Institute for Standardization) was changed.

Meaning of the weekday "Monday"

Meaning of weekday names related to gods/astrology/elements

Meaning: "Day of the moon"

Latin: dies lunae – dedicated to Luna, the moon goddess
English: Monday – Luna resembles Mani, the moon god of Nordic religion
German: Montag
French: lundi – "jour de la Lune"
Hindi: Somavār – named after Soma
Thai: Wan Chan – "wan" = day, "chan" = moon; "day moon"
Japanese: Getsuyōbi – the name contains the character for moon 月

Meaning of weekday names related to their number

Meaning: first/second day

Hebrew: yom sheyni
Greek: Deftéra
Chinese: Xīngqīyī
Russian: ponedel'nik – "Tag nach dem Wochenende"

Meaning of the weekday "Tuesday"

Meaning of weekday names related to gods/astrology/elements

Meaning: "Tag des Mars"

Latin: dies martis – dedicated to war god Mars
English: Tuesday – the war god is called Tyr or Tiu in Nordic mythology
German: Tiustag
French: mardi – "jour de Mars"
Hindi: Mangalavār – named after Mangala
Thai: Wan Angkhān – "Day Mars"
Japanese: Kayōbi – the name contains the character for fire 火

Meaning of weekday names related to their number

Meaning: second/third day

Hebrew: yom shlishi
Greek: Tríti
Chinese: Xīngqī'èr
Russian: vtornik

Meaning of the weekday "Wednesday"

Meaning of weekday names related to gods/astrology/elements

Meaning: "day of Mercury"

Latin: dies mercurii – dedicated to the god Mercury
English: Wednesday – dedicated to the god Wodan
German: Mittwoch – the heathen name Wodanstag was replaced by a different name meaning "mid-week"
French: mercredi –"jour de Mercure"
Hindi: Budhavār – named after Buddha
Thai: Wan Phut – "day Mercury"
Japanese: Suiyōbi – the name contains the character for water 水