Names of the week and month
Names of the week
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_the_days_of_the_week
Greco-Roman tradition
Day | Sunday Sōl or Helios (Sun) |
Monday Luna or Selene (Moon) |
Tuesday Mars or Ares (Mars) |
Wednesday Mercurius or Hermes (Mercury) |
Thursday Jove or Zeus (Jupiter) |
Friday Venus or Aphrodite (Venus) |
Saturday Saturnus or Kronos (Saturn) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Greek | ἡμέρᾱ Ἡλίου (Ἀπόλλωνος) hēmérā Hēlíou (Apóllōnos) Ἡλιαίᾱ Hēliaíā Ἀπολλωνίᾱ Apollōníā |
ἡμέρᾱ Σελήνης (Ἀρτέμιδος) hēmérā Selḗnēs (Artémidos) Σεληνίᾱ Selēníā (Ἀρτεμιτίᾱ) (Artemitíā) |
ἡμέρᾱ Ἄρεως hēmérā Áreōs Ἀρείᾱ Areíā |
ἡμέρᾱ Ἑρμοῦ hēmérā Hermoû Ἑρμ(ε)ίᾱ Herm(e)íā |
ἡμέρᾱ Διός hēmérā Diós Διώνη Diṓnē |
ἡμέρᾱ Ἀφροδῑ́της hēmérā Aphrodī́tēs Ἀφροδιτίᾱ Aphroditíā |
ἡμέρᾱ Κρόνου hēmérā Krónou Κρονίᾱ Kroníā |
Latin | diēs Sōlis | diēs Lūnae | diēs Mārtis | diēs Mercuriī | diēs Iovis | diēs Veneris | diēs Sāturnī |
Germanic tradition
The Germanic peoples adapted the system introduced by the Romans by substituting the Germanic deities for the Roman ones (with the exception of Saturday) in a process known as interpretatio germanica. The date of the introduction of this system is not known exactly, but it must have happened later than AD 200 but before the introduction of Christianity during the 6th to 7th centuries, i.e., during the final phase or soon after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire.[17] This period is later than the Common Germanic stage, but still during the phase of undifferentiated West Germanic. The names of the days of the week in North Germanic languages were not calqued from Latin directly, but taken from the West Germanic names.
- Sunday: Old English Sunnandæg (pronounced [ˈsunnɑndæj]), meaning "sun's day". This is a translation of the Latin phrase diēs Sōlis. English, like most of the Germanic languages, preserves the day's association with the sun. Many other European languages, including all of the Romance languages, have changed its name to the equivalent of "the Lord's day" (based on Ecclesiastical Latin dies Dominica). In both West Germanic and North Germanic mythology, the Sun is personified as Sunna/Sól.
- Monday: Old English Mōnandæg (pronounced [ˈmoːnɑndæj]), meaning "Moon's day". This is equivalent to the Latin name diēs Lūnae. In North Germanic mythology, the Moon is personified as Máni.
- Tuesday: Old English Tīwesdæg (pronounced [ˈtiːwezdæj]), meaning "Tiw's day". Tiw (Norse Týr) was a one-handed god associated with single combat and pledges in Norse mythology and also attested prominently in wider Germanic paganism. The name of the day is also related to the Latin name diēs Mārtis, "Day of Mars" (the Roman god of war).
- Wednesday: Old English Wōdnesdæg (pronounced [ˈwoːdnezdæj]) meaning the day of the Germanic god Woden (known as Óðinn among the North Germanic peoples), and a prominent god of the Anglo-Saxons (and other Germanic peoples) in England until about the seventh century. This corresponds to the Latin counterpart diēs Mercuriī, "Day of Mercury", as both are deities of magic and knowledge. The German Mittwoch, the Low German Middeweek, the miðviku- in Icelandic miðvikudagur and the Finnish keskiviikko all mean "mid-week".
- Thursday: Old English Þūnresdæg (pronounced [ˈθuːnrezdæj]), meaning 'Þunor's day'. Þunor means thunder or its personification, the Norse god known in Modern English as Thor. Similarly Dutch donderdag, German Donnerstag ('thunder's day'), Finnish torstai, and Scandinavian torsdag ('Thor's day'). "Thor's day" corresponds to Latin diēs Iovis, "day of Jupiter" (the Roman god of thunder).
- Friday: Old English Frīgedæg (pronounced [ˈfriːjedæj]), meaning the day of the Anglo-Saxon goddess Fríge. The Norse name for the planet Venus was Friggjarstjarna, 'Frigg's star'. It is based on the Latin diēs Veneris, "Day of Venus".
- Saturday: named after the Roman god Saturn associated with the Titan Cronus, father of Zeus and many Olympians. Its original Anglo-Saxon rendering was Sæturnesdæg (pronounced [ˈsæturnezdæj]). In Latin, it was diēs Sāturnī, "Day of Saturn". The Nordic laugardagur, leygardagur, laurdag, etc. deviate significantly as they have no reference to either the Norse or the Roman pantheon; they derive from Old Nordic laugardagr, literally "washing-day". The German Sonnabend (mainly used in northern and eastern Germany) and the Low German Sünnavend mean "Sunday Eve"; the German word Samstag derives from the name for Shabbat.
Names of the month
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_calendar
Roman Republican calendar (c. 700 BC or c. 450 BC – 46 BC)
English | Latin | Meaning | Length in days | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st year (cmn.) |
2nd year (leap) |
3rd year (cmn.) |
4th year (leap) | ||||||||
1. | January | I. | Mensis Ianuarius | Month of Janus | 29 |
29 |
29 |
29 | |||
2. | February | II. | Mensis Februarius | Month of the Februa | 28 |
23 |
28 |
24 | |||
Intercalary Month | Intercalaris Mensis (Mercedonius) | Month of Wages | 27 |
27 | |||||||
3. | March | III. | Mensis Martius | Month of Mars | 31 |
31 |
31 |
31 | |||
4. | April | IV. | Mensis Aprilis | Month of Aphrodite – from which the Etruscan Apru might have been derived | 29 |
29 |
29 |
29 | |||
5. | May | V. | Mensis Maius | Month of Maia | 31 |
31 |
31 |
31 | |||
6. | June | VI. | Mensis Iunius | Month of Juno | 29 |
29 |
29 |
29 | |||
7. | July | VII. | Mensis Quintilis | Fifth Month (from the earlier calendar starting in March) | 31 |
31 |
31 |
31 | |||
8. | August | VIII. | Mensis Sextilis | Sixth Month | 29 |
29 |
29 |
29 | |||
9. | September | IX. | Mensis September | Seventh Month | 29 |
29 |
29 |
29 | |||
10. | October | X. | Mensis October | Eighth Month | 31 |
31 |
31 |
31 | |||
11. | November | XI. | Mensis November | Ninth Month | 29 |
29 |
29 |
29 | |||
12. | December | XII. | Mensis December | Tenth Month | 29 |
29 |
29 |
29 | |||
Whole year: | 355 | 377 | 355 | 378 |