# Days of the Week



## vince

What are the days of the week called in your language, and what is the origin of these names? Are they names of gods or planets, or do they have other origins? Or does your language lack names of the days of the week and simply numbers them from 1 to 7? e.g. "Tuesday" = "Day 3" (or "Day 2" if your calendar starts on a Monday).

I find it interesting that Spanish names its days of the week but Portuguese doesn't, I wonder why that is?


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## Dymn

From Wikipedia:


> Saint Martin of Dumio (c. 520–580), archbishop of Braga, decided not to call days by pagan gods and to use ecclesiastic terminology to designate them. This may be the origin of the present Portuguese numbered system.[8] Martin also tried to replace the names of the planets, but was not successful. In the Middle Ages, Galician-Portuguese retained both systems. The Roman gods' names are still used in Galician.



In Catalan it's like Romance languages (from Roman gods, except Saturday and Sunday), but with the *di- *prefix:
Starting by Monday: _dilluns, dimarts, dimecres, dijous, divendres, dissabte, diumenge._


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## ger4

Monday - Sunday in* Latvian:*

pirmdiena (1st day), otrdiena (2nd day), trešdiena (3rd day), ceturtdiena (4th day), piektdiena (5th day), sestdiena (6th day), svētdiena (holy day) <-- diena = day 


Monday - Sunday in* Estonian:*

esmaspäev (1st day), teisipäev (2nd day), kolmapäev (3rd day), neljapäev (4th day), reede [a], laupäev [b], pühapäev [c]; <-- päev = day

[a] Friday - reede (related to Germanic Friday/fredag/Freitag/...) http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/reede 
*Saturday - laupäev (bath day) http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/laupäev
[c] Sunday - pühapäev (holy day, sacred day) http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pühapäev 
*


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## Maroseika

*Russian*:

*Monday *- понедельник [panidel'nik] (lit. *after неделя* [nidel'a], ancient name of Sunday (literally not-doing), which originally was the first day of the week)
*Tuesday  *- вторник [vtornik] (*second *[day])
*Wednesday *- среда [srida] (*middle *[day], because in ancient times Sunday was the first day of the week))
*Thursday *- четверг [chitverk] (*fourth *[day])
*Friday *- пятница [pyatnitsa] (*fifth *[day])
*Saturday *- суббота [subota] (< Hebrew *shabbat*)
*Sunday *- воскресенье [vaskrisen'e] (*resurrection*)


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## apmoy70

In Greek:


Sunday: *«Κυριακή»* [ciɾi.aˈci] (fem.) --> _Lord's_ (day is omitted) < Koine of Early Christian era *«Κυριακὴ ἡμέρα» Kŭrĭākḕ hēmérā* --> _Lord's day_ 
Monday: *«Δευτέρα»* [ðefˈteɾa] (fem.) --> _Second_ (day is omitted) < Koine *«Δευτέρα ἡμέρα» Deutérā hēmérā* --> _Second day_
Tuesday: *«Τρίτη»* [ˈtɾiti] (fem.) --> _Third_ (day is omitted) < Koine *«Τρίτη ἡμέρα» Τrítē hēmérā* --> _Τhird day_
 Wednesday: *«Τετάρτη»* [teˈtaɾti] (fem.) --> _Fourth_ (day is omitted) < Koine *«Τετάρτη ἡμέρα» Tĕtártē hēmérā* --> _Fourth day_
Thursday: *«Πέμπτη»* [ˈpempti] (fem.) --> _Fifth_ (day is omitted) < Koine *«Πέμπτη ἡμέρα» Pémptē hēmérā* --> _Fifth day_
Friday: *«Παρασκευή»* [paɾasceˈvi] (fem.) --> _Preparation_ (day is omitted) < Koine *«Παρασκευὴ ἡμέρα» Părăskeuḕ hēmérā* --> _Preparation day_ (i.e. the day before Sabbath)
Saturday: *«Σάββατο»* [ˈsavato] (neut.) --> _Sabbath_ < Koine *«Σάββατον» Sábbātŏn* (neut.) < Hebrew שַׁבָּת‎ (shabbat)


Pre-Christian Greeks of the Roman period named the days of the week after ancient Greek deities:


Sunday: *«Ἡμέρα Ἡλίου» Hēmérā Hēlíou* --> _Day of Sun_
Monday: *«Ἡμέρα Σελήνης» Hēmérā Sĕlḗnēs* --> _Day of Moon_
Tuesday: *«Ἡμέρα Ἄρεως» Hēmérā Árĕōs* --> _Day of Mars_
 Wednesday: *«Ἡμέρα Ἑρμοῦ» Hēmérā Hĕrmoũ* --> _Day of Mercury_
Thursday: *«Ἡμέρα Διός» Hēmérā Dīós* --> _Day of Jupiter_
Friday: *«Ἡμέρα Ἀφροδίτης Hēmérā Ăpʰrodítēs* --> _Day of Venus_
Saturday: *«Ἡμέρα Κρόνου» Hēmérā Krónou* --> _Day of Saturn_


Week: *«Εβδομάδα»* [evðoˈmaða] (fem.) --> lit. _a unit of seven_ < Classical 3rd declension fem. noun *«ἑβδομάς» hĕbdŏmás* --> _a number/unit/set/bunch of seven_.
Ancient Greeks of the Classical period, did not have the concept of 7-day week, they split each month into three 10-day periods called *«μήν ἱστάμενος» mḗn hĭstámĕnŏs* (both masc.) --> _standing period_ (the first 10 days), *«μήν μεσών» mḗn mĕsṓn* (both masc.) --> _middle period_, *«μήν ἀπιών» mḗn ăpīṓn* (both masc.) --> _leaving period_. They named each day of the month according to the period in the month it fell, e.g *«ἑβδόμη ἱσταμένου» hĕbdómē hĭstăménou* --> _seventh (day is omitted) of standing (period is omitted)_, *«δεκάτη μεσοῦντος» dĕkátē mĕsoũntŏs* --> _tenth (day is omitted) of middle (period is omitted)_; sometimes (to make things even more complicated), they counted days backwards, e.g. *«εἰκοστὴ πρώτη ἀπιόντος» eikŏstḕ prṓtē ăpĭóntŏs* --> _twenty first from leaving_ (i.e. 9th of standing).
Weekend: *«Σαββατοκύριακο»* [savatoˈciɾʝako] (neut.) --> _Saturday-Sunday_. Early Greek speaking Christians called the weekend, *«Σάββατα» Sábbātă* (neut. nom. pl.) --> _Sabbath_*s*.


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## Peterdg

English, Dutch, German, French, Spanish
Monday, maandag, Montag, lundi, lunes
Tuesday, dinsdag, Dienstag, mardi, martes
Wednesday, woensdag, Mittwoch, mercredi, miércoles
Thursday, donderdag, Donnerstag, jeudi, jueves
Friday, vrijdag, Freitag, vendredi, viernes
Saturday, zaterdag, Samstag, samedi, sábado
Sunday, zondag, Sonntag, dimanche, domingo

For Monday, all these languages seem to refer to the moon.


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## rufeng_li

Chinese

Monday--星期一/周一
Tuesday--星期二/周二
Wednesday--星期三/周三
Thursday--星期四/周四
Friday--星期五/周五
Saturday--星期六/周六
Sunday--星期天/周天


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## Maroseika

^
So just numbers except Sunday meaning end of the cycle or somehow referring to the sky?


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## Radioh

Monday - thứ hai(lit. the second)
Tuesday - thứ ba(the third)
Wednesday - thứ tư(the fourth)
Thursday - thứ năm(the fifth)
Friday - thứ sáu(the sixth)
Saturday - thứ bảy(the seventh)
Sunday - chủ nhật(Christians use 'Chúa nhật', which literally means 'God day'.)
R.


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## Maroseika

Radioh said:


> Sunday - chủ nhật(Christians use 'Chúa nhật', which literally means 'God day'.)
> R.



And what does_ chủ _mean?


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## bibax

Maroseika said:


> *Russian*: Czech:
> 
> *Monday *- pondělí - понедельник [panidel'nik] (lit. *after неделя* [nidel'a], ancient name of Sunday (literally not-doing), which originally was the first day of the week)
> *Tuesday -* úterý - вторник [vtornik] (*second *[day])
> *Wednesday *- středa - среда [srida] (*middle *[day], because in ancient times Sunday was the first day of the week))
> *Thursday *- čtvrtek - четверг [chitverk] (*fourth *[day])
> *Friday *- pátek - пятница [pyatnitsa] (*fifth *[day])
> *Saturday *- sobota - суббота [subota] (< Hebrew *shabbat*)
> *Sunday *- neděle (cf. *неделя*) - воскресенье [vaskrisen'e] (*resurrection*)


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## AutumnOwl

_*Swedish:*
Månda_g - moon day, after (male) personification of the moon, Mani in the Nordic mythology, brother of Sol
_Tisdag_ - after the North Germanic god Tyr
_Onsdag_ - after the North Germanic god Odin
_Torsdag_ - after the North Germanic god Thor
_Fredag_ - after the North Germanic goddess Freyja
Lördag - from lögardag (bath day)
Söndag - sun day, after the (female) personification of the sun, Sol in the Nordic mythology, sister of Mani


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## ahmedcowon

In Arabic:

Saturday: السبت /al-sabt/
Sunday: الأحد /al-ahad/ (the one)
Monday: الاثنين /al-ithnayn/ (the two)
Tuesday: الثلاثاء /al-thulaathaa'/ (the three)
Wednesday: الأربعاء /al-arba'aa'/ (the four)
Thursday: الخميس /al-khamis/ (the five)
Friday: الجمعة /al-jum'ah/ (the gathering)


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## SuperXW

rufeng_li said:


> Chinese
> 
> Monday--星期一/周一
> Tuesday--星期二/周二
> Wednesday--星期三/周三
> Thursday--星期四/周四
> Friday--星期五/周五
> Saturday--星期六/周六
> Sunday--星期天/周天


To Chinese, weekly calendar was from the West. 
周 ("cycle") is used to mean "week", 一 to 六 (1-6) is used for the sake of convenience.  
星期 also means "week". The two characters literally means "star schedule" or similar.
礼拜 is another alternative. 礼拜 literally refers to the action of "worship". "Sunday" is called 礼拜天 or 礼拜日 "worship day". So the word should be invented when Western missionaries came to China. Other days are therefore called "worship 1, 2, 3..."



Maroseika said:


> So just numbers except Sunday meaning end of the cycle or somehow referring to the sky?


Both 天 ("sky") and 日 ("sun") are used in Chinese words to mean "day". This could has something to do with the invention of "worship day" I explained above.


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## Anja.Ann

*In Italian*: 

Monday = *lunedì *from Latin “Lunae dies” (the day of the Moon);
Tuesday = *martedì *from Latin “Martis die” (the day of Mars);
Wednesday = *mercoledì *from Late Latin “Mercŭrī dies” (the day of Mercury);
Thursday =*giovedì* from Latin “Iovis dies” (the day of Jupiter);
Friday =*venerdì *from Latin “Venĕris dies” (the day of Venus);
Saturday = *sabato *from Latin “sabbătum”, from Greek “σάββατον” deriving from Hebrew “shabbāt”  [(the day of) rest];
Sunday = *domenica *from Late Latin “domĭnĭca (dies)” [(the day) of Lord], (the Lord’s day).


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## bazq

Hebrew uses ordinal numbers, except for Saturday:

(Yom) rishon - first (day)
(Yom) sheni - second (day)
(Yom) shlishi - third (day)
(Yom) revi'i - fourth (day)
(Yom) khamishi - fifth (day)
(Yom) shishi - sixth (day)
(Yom) Shabat - Sabbath (day)

Using the word "day" ("yom") is optional.


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## mataripis

Tagalog: same as in Spanish.except Sunday- Linggo


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## Radioh

Maroseika said:


> And what does_ chủ _mean?



Hi, Maroseika, 'chủ' means 'owner'. 
R.


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## Maroseika

So what does it mean - owner day? Or "owner" is another name for god?


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## alvarovix

In Spanish:

Lunes--lat. Lunae (Moon's day)
Martes--lat. Martis dies ( Mars' day)
Miércoles--lat. Mercurii dies (Mercury's day)
Jueves--lat. Jovis day (Jupiter's day)
Viernes--lat. Veneris dies (Venus' day)
Sábado--lat. sabbatum (Day off)
Domingo--lat. dies dominicus (Lord's day)

It is the same as in Italian


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## Dib

Bengali:
Similar to other Indian languages, days are named after celestial bodies - sun, moon and planets:

রবিবার robi-bar = Sun-day
সোমবার som-bar = Moon-day
মঙ্গলবার moŋgol-bar = Mars-day
বুধবার budh-bar = Mercury-day
বৃহস্পতিবার brihospoti-bar = Jupiter-day
শুক্রবার sukro-bar = Venus-day
শনিবার soni-bar = Saturn-day


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## DrWatson

*Finnish*


_maanantai _< Germanic, cf. Old Swedish _mānadaghr_, modern _måndag_
_tiistai _< Germanic, cf. Swedish _tisdag_
_keskiviikko _(lit. "middle-week"); _viikko _< Scandinavian, cf. Old Norse _vika_, Swedish _vecka_
_torstai _< Germanic, cf. Old Norse _þórsdagr_, Swedish _torsdag_
_perjantai _< Scandinavian, cf. Old Norse _freiadagr_, Swedish _fredag_
_lauantai _< Scandinavian, cf. Old Norse _laugardagr_, Swedish _lördag_
_sunnuntai _< Germanic, cf. Old Norse _sunnudagr_, Swedish _söndag_


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## Radioh

Maroseika said:


> So what does it mean - owner day? Or "owner" is another name for god?



No, Maro. 'Chúa' and 'Chủ' are derived from the Chinese 'zhu'. 'Chúa nhật' is the original name and coincidently 'Chúa' means God, 'Chủ' means 'owner'. Don't know what 'zhu' means in Chinese.
R.


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## animelover

4 parts, Japanese, notes on Chinese and Vietnamese, and a bit about planetary hours.

------------

Japanese:

All day names are of the form "X曜日", with variable X. "曜日"="day".

曜="shining", refers to the seven stellar objects Sun(日), Moon(月), Mercury(水), Venus(金), Mars(火), Jupiter(木), and Saturn(土). See the Five Phases. These are assigned to each 日="day".

The seven days, of the form X曜日:

月 "moon" - Monday, from "moon's day"

火 "fire/Mars" - Tuesday, cf. Latin 'dies Martis' "day of Mars"

水 "water/Mercury" - Wednesday, cf. Latin 'dies Mercurii' "day of Mercury"

木 "wood/Jupiter" - Thursday, cf. Latin 'Iovis Dies' "Jupiter's Day"

金 "metal/Venus" - Friday, cf. Latin  'dies Veneris' "day of Venus"

土 "earth/Saturn" - Saturday, cf. Latin 'dies Saturni' "day of Saturn"

("earth" as in soil, ground, or land; not the planet Earth)

日 "Sun" - "Sunday"

The pronunciation is as follows from Monday to Sunday:

getsuyoobi
kayoobi
suiyoobi
mokuyoobi
kinyoobi
doyoobi
nichoyoobi

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Concerning Chinese:



			
				wikipedia said:
			
		

> The East Asian naming system of days of the week closely parallels that of the Latin system and is ordered after the "Seven Luminaries" (七曜), which consists of the Sun, Moon and the five planets visible to the naked eye. The five planets are named after the five elements in traditional East Asian philosophy: Fire (Mars), Water (Mercury), Wood (Jupiter), Metal (Venus), and Earth (Saturn).
> 
> *In China, with the founding of the Republic of China in 1911, Monday through Saturday in China are now numbered one through six, with the reference to the Sun remaining for Sunday （星期日）.*



------------

The Vietnamese 'chủ nhật' "Sunday", in Chinese characters 主日 ("Lord-Day"), is literally the Lord's Day, ie. the Christian Sabbath. According to this page, 'chúa' is a (honorific?) variation of 'chủ' with the same meaning.

This word, 主日 "Sabbath", exists in Japanese (pronounced 'shujitsu') and Chinese (Mandarin 'zhǔrì') as well.

Note that the character 主 signifies "owner; chief; lord; sovereign, lord, or god", the relevant meaning here is "Lord".

------------


> The Latin names of the Planets were simple translations of the Greek names, which in turn were translations of the Babylonian names, which go back to the Sumerians.
> 
> The curious thing about the Latin names, clearly using the planets, is that the ancient order of the planets, rising from the Earth to the Fixed Stars, can be read off by starting with Monday and jumping every other day for two weeks:  Monday (Moon), Wednesday (Mercury), Friday (Venus), Sunday (Sun), Tuesday (Mars), Thursday (Jupiter), and Saturday (Saturn).
> 
> According to this source, the formulation of the planetary week goes back to Ptolemaic Egypt. There, the hours of each day are associated with a planet in descending order, beginning with Saturn. Each day is ruled by its first hour, so the week begins with Saturday. Since there are 24 hours in the day, each day runs through all the planets three times (3x7), with a remainder of three (3x7+3 =24). Thus the first hour of the day following Saturday is ruled by the Sun, and becomes Sunday. Consequently, it is simply an artifact of the sequence of days generated in this way that the planets in ascending order can by read off every other day.


The Days of the Week


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## Ghabi

Cf. Months/Days of the Week


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## Radioh

Great post, animelover!(I like anime, too)
R.


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## animelover

TYPO: For the Japanese word, the pronunciation of Sunday is 'nich*i*yoobi'.


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## Ghabi

*Sogdian*, as recorded in an eighth-century Chinese Buddhist text:




xChinese characters*Cantonese pronunciationReconstructed Sogdian**Sunday密mat6MīrMonday莫mok6MāxTuesday雲漢wan4hon3UnxānWednesday咥dit6TīrThursday鶻勿wat6mat6UrmaztFriday那歇naa5hit3NāxidSaturday枳院zi2jyun2Kēwān


A Google search suggests that 密日 (Sunday), against all odds, has survived among the astrologists. Edward H. Schafer calls the names a "fascinating catalogue of vanished Babylonian gods" (_The Golden Peaches of Samarkand_, California, 1985, p.276).

*大正新脩大藏經 第二十一冊 No. 1299《文殊師利菩薩及諸仙所說吉凶時日善惡宿曜經》
**CHINESE-IRANIAN RELATIONS  viii. Persian Language and Literature in China, _Encyclopædia Iranica_


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## Rallino

Turkish:

*Pazar* - Sunday - "Bazaar" / "Shopping day"
*Pazartesi* - Monday - "After the shopping day" - [pazar + ertesi]
*Salı* - Tuesday - "three" (from Arabic number 3 → ثلث)
*Çarşamba* - Wednesday - "4-day" (from Persian  چهر شنبه → Four + shanba [saturday; from Hebrew Shabbath])
*Perşembe* - Thursday - "5-day" (from Persian  پنج شنبه → Four + shanba [saturday; from Hebrew Shabbath])
*Cuma* - Friday - "Meeting" (from Arabic جمعة, from جمع [he gathered(?)])
*Cumartesi* - Saturday - "After Friday" - [cuma + ertesi]


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## Radioh

Rallino said:


> Turkish:
> 
> *Pazar* - Sunday - "Bazaar" / "Shopping day"
> *Pazartesi* - Monday - "After the shopping day" - [pazar + ertesi]
> (...)



Very interesting, Rallino. When I read the first two lines of your post, I expected 'Saturday' to be 'before shopping day'(But no, it is not). Do you know their etymologies ?
R.


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## Arme

The ancient Armenian weekdays were named after the sun, moon and five visible planets - with the native Armenian words for the planets. (There is also a Bronze Age artefact indicating this.) "Day" in Armenian is "or", but "av/au" became "o" much later, so it used to be "avr".

*Sunday* - *[Arevi or/avr]* - Արևի օր/աւր *(Day of the Sun)
Monday* - *[Lusni or]* - Լուսնի օր *(Day of the Moon)
Tuesday* - *[Hrati or]* - Հրատի օր *(Day of Mars)
Wednesday* -* [Pailatsui or] *- Փայլածուի օր *(Day of Mercury)
Thursday* - *[Lusntagi or]* - Լուսնթագի օր *(Day of Jupiter)
Friday* - *[Arusyaki* *or]* - Արուսյակի օր *(Day of Venus)
Saturday* - *[Yerevaki or]* - Երևակի օր  *(Day of Saturn)*

Nowadays:
*Sunday* - *[Kiraki]* - Կիրակի - (borrowing from Greek, meaning (Day) of the Lord)
*Monday* - *[Erkushabti]* - Երկուշաբթի (Second (day) of the week)
*Tuesday* - *[Erekshabti]* - Երեքշաբթի (Third (day) of the week)
*Wednesday* - *[Chorekshabti] *- Չորեքշաբթի (Fourth (day) of the week)
*Thursday* - *[Hingshabti]* - Հինգշաբթի (Fifth (day) of the week)
*Friday* - *[Urbat]* - Ուրբաթ (borrowing from old Assyrian or Aramaic)
*Saturday* - *[Shabat]* - Շաբաթ (borrowing from Hebrew)


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## Sardokan1.0

*Sardinian :*

Monday = _*Lùnis *_from Latin “Lunae dies” (the day of the Moon);
Tuesday = _*Màrtis *_from Latin “Martis die” (the day of Mars);
Wednesday = _*Mèrcuris *_from Late Latin “Mercŭrī dies” (the day of Mercury);
Thursday = *Jòvia, Jòbia, Jòia* from Latin “Jovis dies” (the day of Jupiter);
Friday = _*Chenàpura or Chenàbura*_ from Latin “Dies Coena Pura” (the day of Pure Dinner) which was the name used by Jews (and early Christians) for the dinner of Friday, before the holiday of Shabbat.
Saturday = _*Sàppadu *_from Latin “sabbătum”, from Greek “σάββατον” deriving from Hebrew “shabbāt”  [(the day of) rest];
Sunday = *Domìnica or Domìniga *from Late Latin “domĭnĭca (dies)” [(the day) of Lord], (the Lord’s day).


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## kaverison

In Tamil,

ஞாயிறு - nyaayiRu = Sun (day)
திங்கள் - thingaL = Moon (day)
செவ்வாய் - cevvay = Mars (day)
புதன் - puthan = Mercury (day)
வியாழன் - viyaazhan = Jupiter (day)
வெள்ளி - veLLi = Venus (day)
சனி - cani = Saturn (day)


I assume here that these are taken from Indian (Hindu) astrology. Hindu astrology talks about 9 planets - the above 7 and 2 half planets (half snakes in mythology) - raahu* and keethu. It is possible there is a correlation between these names and the Sanskrit names of the same.

I could see direct equivalents in Greek. Somewhere I read that there were exchanges between Greeks and Hindus in various fields including astrology/astronomy. (That they came to India is historical fact - Alexander the great was the one of the popular visitors). 

* rahuu kaalam (rahuu time) is a different times of each day that may be "bad" times that precludes a Hindu from starting/performing anything good during that time. Don't know, if keethu has anything like that.

Opposite to raahu kaalam is oorai - Hoorai (Skt), the good times of a day when anything new efforts can be started/performed.

oo is "o" as in Old.
ee is "a" as in able

Does any other language/culture have these type of divisions in a day? Greek?


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## dihydrogen monoxide

Regarding the topic of this thread, how come Hungarian has 4 native words for days of the week while Finnish has none.


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