Our week originated from the Romans.
The Romans named every day of the week after planets, which were named after Roman gods: at that time, Germanic-speaking peoples in western Europe adopted a seven-day working week, which may be in the early Christian era. They named their days after their own gods, who were closest to the Roman gods in attributes and characteristics.
It was the Anglo-Saxons who brought their gods and languages (later English) to the British Isles, namely Mercury, in the 5th and 6th centuries.
In English, Saturday, Sunday and Monday are named after Saturn, the sun and the moon respectively, followed by Latin. The other four days (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday) are named after the gods that the Anglo-Saxons may worship shortly before they moved to England and converted. In Christianity since then, Tuesday was named after the god Tiva, and we know little about it.
Wednesday may have something to do with war, just like Mars, the Roman god of war.
Wednesday was named after Walden, who is similar to the Roman god Mercury, probably because both gods have eloquence, the ability to travel and the ability to protect the dead.
Thursday is Tono Day, or, to give the word an old English form, Thunder Day.
It's a day to sit next to Latinos, Obis, Jupiter or Jupiter.
In their respective myths, these two gods are related to thunder.
You can realize here that it is very similar to the name of the famous Norwegian god Thor.
This may not be just a coincidence.
Vikings came to England in the 9th century and brought their own very similar gods.
Anglo-Saxons are Christians now, but they may have realized the similarity between the names of their ancestors' Tono and Norwegian gods.
We don't know, but the word Thor did appear in the written documents of this period. Chris hymes Worth plays the famous Norwegian god Thor in the movie of the same name 20 1 1.
IMDB, Friday is the only working day named after the goddess Frig, which was rarely mentioned in early English.
But this name is indeed a common noun in poetry, which means "love, love".
That's why Friege was chosen to be associated with Venus, the Roman god, and who is also associated with love and sex, and to commemorate Friday with a Latin name.
The concept of week, that is, a seven-day cycle, in which one day (usually Sunday or Monday) is fixed as the first day, may be related to the Jewish calendar at first.
The fact that Europe in the early Middle Ages inherited the concept of Zhou from the Roman Empire through the Christian Church made the situation more complicated.
In early Christianity, the calculation of time is very important for correctly celebrating church festivals and holidays, especially Easter.
We find Japanese names similar to English in relevant European languages, such as Dutch, German and all Scandinavian or Norwegian languages.
Scandinavians certainly know gods with similar names, such as Tyre, Ausin, Thor and Friger. In Scandinavian, they named their names as weekdays (Tistag, Onstag, Thortag and Friedag in modern Denmark).
In all European romances, the Latin names of the days of the week and the Roman gods they named still exist in French, Spanish and Italian.
For example, think about French Lundy, Maldi, Maikaidi, Judy and Windley, and you will find Latin Lundy, Mars, Maikairui, Jovis and Venus all hidden behind them.
Source: DcoetzeeBot/ public domain.
Margaret Clooney Ross's article "Interpreter: God in a Week" was first published in Dialogue magazine, and reprinted with the permission of knowledge.
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