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From: ins_atrh@jhunix.UUCP (Thomas Richard Holtz)
Newsgroups: net.nlang,net.origins
Subject: Re: Days of the week
Message-ID: <1328@jhunix.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 2-Dec-85 12:26:23 EST
Article-I.D.: jhunix.1328
Posted: Mon Dec  2 12:26:23 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 5-Dec-85 06:31:52 EST
References: <174@watmath.UUCP> <262@ho95e.UUCP> <674@spar.UUCP>
Reply-To: ins_atrh@jhunix.ARPA (Thomas Richard Holtz)
Organization: Johns Hopkins Univ. Computing Ctr.
Lines: 52
Keywords: Days, Gods, Calendar
Xref: watmath net.nlang:3841 net.origins:2677

In article <674@spar.UUCP> ellis@spar.UUCP (Michael Ellis) writes:
>>I get the impression that renumbering the days of the week so they
>>start with Monday is a recent European rationalization of "Sunday is
>>our Sabbath so it must be the 7th day of the week"; customary usage in
>>the USA is that the week starts on Sunday, whereas I remember learning
>>the days of the week in French as "<monday>, <tuesday>..." (Sorry, but I
>>never could spell them) - Bill Stewart
>
>    The 7 days of the week fit nicely into the ancient cosmic scheme with 7
>    (visible) non-stationary astronomical bodies, which were, of course,
>    considered to be gods. What is odd is the mapping of the GraecoRoman
>    gods to the Teutonic ones:
>
>Object    French        English     Danish    Teutonic Names
>
>sun	  [dimanche]	sunday      s0ndag    sun
>moon	  lundi		monday      mandag    moon
>mars  	  mardi		tuesday     tirsdag   E.Tiw
>mercury   mercredi	wednesday   onsdag    E.Weden, G.Wotan, S.Odin
>jupiter   jeudi		thursday    torsdag   G.Donner/S.Thor
>venus	  vendredi	friday      fredag    G.Freia+Fricka
>saturn	  [samedi]	[saturday]  loerdag   E.{low/ley=flame},G.Loge,S.Loki
>
>    Tiw, which is cognate with ju-piter and zeus (IE. dy[eo]us = `day,sky'),
>    was equated with mars; the teutonic king of the gods (weden) was equated
>    with mercury; the god of thunder (thor) with jupiter; and the sly god
>    of fire (loki) with saturn. These equations make no sense whatsoever!
>
>    Can anybody explain this? And why do we call it `saturday' rather than
>    `leyday/lowday', which is what I suspect would be the AngloSaxon 
>    equivalent of Danish `loerdag' if it had survived?

Okay.  First of all, the equation of Tyr with Mars is a little wierd, but
not too much so.  Tyr/Tiw is god of law and honor (as in the incident with
the Fenris Wolf and Tyr's hand), but he is also a war god, as is Mars.
Odin/Woden and Mercury have one major aspect in common:  magic.  Mercury,
in many forms (especially the alchemaic Hermes Trimegistos) was associated
with magic, and Odin is the archetype of the Nordic wizard (broad rimmed hat,
magic staff, and all).
Both Thor and Jupiter are thunderers, who throw around lightning bolts and
such for fun.
Loki and Saturn make a strange pair, too.  You could say that they have the
common attribute of not being on the same side as the rest of the gods
(Saturn/Kronos is a Titan, not an Olympian;  Loki is a half-giant whose
true loyalties are revealed at the end of Time), but that's a reach if ever
I heard (or uttered) one.

Now, as for the lack of a leyday in English, I think it may have something
to do with the "Romanization" of the language by the Normans after 1066.


                                       Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.