# The planets and the days of the week



## gaer

水星、すいせい Mercury
金星、きんせい Venus
地、ち [the] earth
火星、かせい Mars
土星、どせい Jupiter
木星、もくせい Saturn
天王星、てんのうせい Uranus
海王星、かいおうせい Neptune
冥王星、めいおうせい Pluto

Although at first these may seem very unimportant to someone learning Japanese—why learn planets—there is a direct link between the planets and the days of the week. 

日、日曜日、sun's day, Sunday
月、月曜日、"moon's day" or Monday
火星、火曜日 fire day = Mars day = Tuesday
水星、水曜日 water or Mercury's day = Wednesday
木星、木曜日 wood day = Jupiter's day= Thursday
金星、金曜日 gold day = Venus's day = Friday
土星、土曜日 "earth"/"ground"/day = Saturn's day = Saturday 


Furthermore, in Western astrology, Jupiter is the symbol of growth (the tree), while Saturn is the symbol of limitations (being grounded, earth-bound), and the link between Mercury, Vernus and Mars and the symbols in Japanese are pretty obvious. In addition, I believe the planets are identical in Chinese, a free bonus.

Gaer

PS: I think the link in Chinese and Japanese to the outer three planets is interesting: Uranus was also called "Heavan", I think. I'm not sure about that. But Neptune is the "Sea-God-Planet", and Pluto is the "Dark-King-Planet".


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## Flaminius

Gaer, this is a nice find!



gaer said:


> 水星、すいせい Mercury
> 金星、きんせい Venus
> 地球、ちきゅう the Earth
> 火星、かせい Mars
> 土星、どせい Jupiter
> 木星、もくせい Saturn
> 天王星、てんのうせい Uranus
> 海王星、かいおうせい Neptune
> 冥王星、めいおうせい Pluto


天 means "heaven", which is _ouranos_ in Classic Greek.
海 corresponds to the Roman sea god, _Neptunus_.
冥 is "dark" but usually has a connotation of "underworld" as in 冥途, 冥界. Underworld is the dominion of the Greek deity _Pluto_.

The days of the week was originally a Babylonian idea that seven stars (the sun, the moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn) alternate as the guardians of the seven days. I understand little trace of this "hebdomades" is found in Germanic languages but other languages, French for example, show the remnants of the early history.

To my surprise, Japan knew the days of the week as early as the 9th century. See this Wikipedia article for reference. It was during Meiji aera that Sunday became an official off-day.


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## gaer

Flaminius said:


> Gaer, this is a nice find!


I KNEW I would good the earth! I did not know how to write that.

地球 is really logical, earth, ball. There are countless useful example sentences on Jim Breen's site, although I would like to ask you to confirm if any I choose is proper. I always look for very simple ones to illustrate a point:

月から見ると、*地球*はボールのように見える。
Literally: moon from, earth/ball just like looks.
From the moon, the earth looks just like a ball.


> 天 means "heaven", which is _ouranos_ in Classic Greek.


I knew the meaning in Japanese but did not know that "Uranus" had the same meaning. Good grief. Do you know Greek too?  


> 海 corresponds to the Roman sea god, _Neptunus_.


Right, but it's really interesting the way it is described literally in Japanese.


> 冥 is "dark" but usually has a connotation of "underworld" as in 冥途, 冥界. Underworld is the dominion of the Greek deity _Pluto_.


Exactly! You know this if you know a bit about mythology. It is almost always used in connection with Hades, which is not hell at all.


> The days of the week was originally a Babylonian idea that seven stars (the sun, the moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn) alternate as the guardians of the seven days. I understand little trace of this "hebdomades" is found in Germanic languages but French, for example, shows the remnants of this idea.


Right. Theses seven "stars" were known long before the outer three, which are recent additions, and 星、as was true in the west, was used for starts, planets, moons, etc., and again you can see that influence when astrology talks about "the planets", which include the mooon and the sun.


> To my surprise, Japan knew the days of the week as early as the 9th century. See this Wikipedia article for reference. It was during Meiji aera that Sunday became an official off-day.


There are all sorts of incredible parallels that seem to show more communication at an earlier date than we might guess. I have been particularly interested in the difference between the West (firs, earth, air, water) and the East (water, earth, wood, metal, tree [life?]), which I suppose would be a bit like "five elements".

I would love to find out how far back in history 水 was associated with water, the element mercury AND the planet Mercury. That seems like an incredible link, doesn't it?

Gaer


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## Captain Haddock

The days of the week in Japanese line up better with the names from the Romance languages, like French:

月・lune -> lundi
火・mars -> mardi
水・mercure -> mercredi

Et cetera — while the English days of the week are named after Norse gods: Tyr, Woden, Thor (Þunor), and Frige.

The Japanese planets/days of the week also correspond to the five traditional Chinese elements (plus the sun and moon).


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## gaer

Captain Haddock said:


> The days of the week in Japanese line up better with the names from the Romance languages, like French:
> 
> 月・lune -> lundi
> 火・mars -> mardi
> 水・mercure -> mercredi


Yes, but WHY? Isn't that strange? Why should French and Japanese have the days linked to the same planets in the same order?  

Gaer


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## Outsider

Yes, that is interesting. The Babylonian/Roman/Christian calendar must have spread to India and Central Asia and China, and then to Japan.


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## Cereth

In spanish too:
月・moon -> lunes
火・mars -> martes
水  Mercury-Miércoles
木曜日Jupiter's day= Jueves
金曜日= Venus's day = Viernes
土曜日= Saturn´s day= sábado
In spanish Nichijyoubi is dedicated to the sun...but the name has no relation= Domingo, so I think that is the only difference...


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## Outsider

Domingo, from _Dominicus_, day of the Lord, is the Christian name, but the Romans used to call it _Dies Solis_, the day of the Sun. The name was changed when Christianity replaced the cult of the Unconquered Sun as the privileged religion of the Roman Empire.
Here's an earlier thread about the names of the days of the week.


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## Flaminius

gaer said:


> Yes, but WHY? Isn't that strange? Why should French and Japanese have the days linked to the same planets in the same order?
> 
> Gaer



Maybe because Japan imported "hebdomades" in the 9th century (Cf. Wiki link _supra_).  Even if that was a difference thing from the Western seven-days-a-week system, I find it is likely that the old names were reinterpreted when Mēji Government swiched to Gregorian Calendar in 1873.



> 土曜日= Saturn´s day= sábado



No.  This is from Hebrew Shabbat.  Same as French _samedi_.


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## karuna

gaer said:


> 土星、どせい Jupiter
> 木星、もくせい Saturn



I think there is some mistake because Thursday (mokuyōbi) is the day of Jupiter.


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## karuna

Which is the first day of the week in Japan? I know that in English speaking countries they start with Sunday but in Latvia the week starts on Monday.


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## Outsider

karuna said:


> Which is the first day of the week in Japan? I know that in English speaking countries they start with Sunday [...]


Are you sure?


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## gaer

karuna said:


> I think there is some mistake because Thursday (mokuyōbi) is the day of Jupiter.


Yes. What did I type? 木曜日、もくようび, Thursday, 木星、Jupiter. I'll edit the mistake. Thanks for pointing that out!

(In fact, I flipped Jupiter and Saturn, I think. Let me know if you see any more mistakes.)

Gaer


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