# Friday (fictional character)



## Encolpius

Hello, you al know Friday from *Daniel Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe*. I wonder what you call him in your language. I think it is the literal translation of the day in European languages, but I have doubts about Asian and other languages. Thanks.

*Hungarian  *Péntek (character + name of the day)
*Czech *Pátek (the same), *Slovak *Piatok


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## ilocas2

I found on Croatian Wikipedia that the character is *Petko* in Croatian

and friday (day) is *petak*


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## Karton Realista

Encolpius said:


> I think it is the literal translation of the day in European languages


You'll be surprised, because in Polish it's Piętaszek  it obviously comes from Friday (piątek), but it is a character name and also a soft name, in a way.


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## Encolpius

I am surprised! And I Like it is not a simple Friday, then other languages might use similar changes, too. I wonder why Czechs do not call him "Páteček", they love diminutives, too. I won't be surprised if Italians call him Venerdino.


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## olaszinho

Italian - the name of the weekday: Venerdì


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## apmoy70

In Greek it's the masculine form (and an actual first name for males though rare) of the day of the week, which is a feminine noun (and an actual first name for females though equally rare):
*«Παρασκευάς»* [paɾasceˈvas] (masc.) vs *«Παρασκευή»* [paɾasceˈvi] (fem.).

The name «Παρασκευή» is translated into English as "Preparation (day)" as it's the one before the Sabbath (see Mark 15:42, John 19:31 in the Christian Gospels).


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## 810senior

Japanese is the same as English, it is called フライデーfuraidee(friday), not 金曜kinyou(equivalent of Friday).


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## Encolpius

Interesting you must change the gender of the noun. Does it mean there are no masculine nouns with feminine endings in Greek?
Yes, that was what I expected in Japanese.


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## apmoy70

Encolpius said:


> Interesting you must change the gender of the noun. Does it mean there are no masculine nouns with feminine endings in Greek?


Well there are nouns with the same endings for masculine and feminine, belonging to the ancient 2nd declension, with endings in -ος -os e.g. «οδοιπόρος» [oðiˈpoɾos] (masc. & fem.) --> _traveller, wayfarer_, «αξιωματούχος» [ak͡siomaˈtuxos] (masc. & fem.) --> _official, office holder_, but as a general rule you're right:
*«Κυριακή»* [ciɾ͡ʝaˈci] (fem.) --> _Sunday, Lord's day, female first name_ vs *«Κυριακός»* [ciɾ͡ʝaˈkos] (masc.) & *«Κυριάκος»* [ciɾˈʝakos] (masc.) --> _concerning/belonging to the Lord, male first name_ (as a sidenote, from the Byzantine adjective «Κυριακός» which qualifies the masc. noun «οἶκος» i.e. _Lord's house_, derives the Germanic word for the Christian house of worship: Church, Kirche, Kyrka, Kirke etc).


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## ger4

German: _Freitag_ (the name of the weekday hasn't been altered).

Latvian: _piektdiena_ (Friday) is a feminine noun - as in Greek - so it was changed to _Piektdienis_ (masculine gender) for the purpose.


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## Encolpius

apmoy70 said:


> *«Παρασκευάς»* [paɾasceˈvas] (masc.) vs *«Παρασκευή»* [paɾasceˈvi] (fem.).



But there are no living masculine nouns with ending *-ευή* ? 



Holger2014 said:


> Latvian: _piektdiena_ (Friday) is a feminine noun - as in Greek - so it was changed to _Piektdienis_ (masculine gender) for the purpose.



So there are no living masculine names in Latvian ending at -a? (unlike: Russian: Саша, that's why they keep Пятница) or they follow the Polish style....


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## olaszinho

There are singular masculine names ending in -A in Italian,  some of them come from Greek, such as _tema, problema _and so forth


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## apmoy70

Encolpius said:


> But there are no living masculine nouns with ending -ευή ?


No, this ending is strictly feminine: *«Νινευή»* [nineˈvi] (fem.) --> _Nineveh_, *«συσκευή»* [sisceˈvi] (fem.) --> _appliance_


olaszinho said:


> There are singular masculine names ending in -A in Italian,  some of them come from Greek, such as _tema, problema _and so forth...


...which are neuter in Gr 
The difference between the ancient Gr. feminine ending in -α -a, and the neuter ending in -α -a is that the former (99 out of 100 times) is long -ᾱ -ā while the latter is short -ᾰ -ă.
I'm almost 100% sure that there are no masculine endings in -α -a (that are inherited and not foreign loan words) in ancient or modern Gr


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## Dymn

Anything special either in Catalan or in Spanish:

Catalan: _Divendres_
Spanish: _Viernes_


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## ger4

Encolpius said:


> So there are no living masculine names in Latvian ending at -a? (unlike: Russian: Саша, that's why they keep Пятница)


Masculine nouns always have -s or -is in the nominative singular. 

Even most foreign names add -(i)s*, such as _Džordžs Orvels_ (George Orwell). The equivalents of _Саша/Sasha_ are _Sandis_ or _Sandris_ (from _Aleksandrs_). 

*There are exceptions, like _Ņikita Hruščovs_ (Nikita Khrushchev)


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## Encolpius

Holger2014 said:


> Masculine nouns always have -s or -is in the nominative singular.
> 
> Even most foreign names add -(i)s*, such as _Džordžs Orvels_ (George Orwell). The equivalents of _Саша/Sasha_ are _Sandis_ or _Sandris_ (from _Aleksandrs_).
> 
> *There are exceptions, like _Ņikita Hruščovs_ (Nikita Khrushchev)



Interesting. In Hungarian it is "Sándor" ["Alek*sande*r"]


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## MyriadLeaves

Danish: Fredag (same as the name of the day).


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## rusita preciosa

Russian: Пятница /piatnitsa/- same as the day of the week.
The day of the week is feminine, but in Russian there are lots of masculine nouns that have feminine form (e.g. мужчина - man) and male names (Илья, Данила),  so it does not sound strange.


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## Armas

Finnish: _Perjantai_ is both the character's name and the day.


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## Nawaq

Nothing spectacular in *French* either, _Vendredi_ (Friday).


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## bazq

In Hebrew days of the week do not have a name per se, we simply say the word "day" ("yom"), and then its ordinal number.
So "day first" = Sunday
"day second" = Monday
...

Friday = "day sixth" = "yom shishi" (6 = "shesh").
The name of the character in the book is ששת [sheshet], so at first glance you wouldn't link it to the "sixth day", but it definitely relates to 6.


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## Encolpius

Interesting comment, Bazq and you made me think of *Portuguese *which uses the same method. Friday is sexta in Portuguese but I have no idea what they might call the character. O Sexto.


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## Vanda

Português: Sexta-feira.


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## Encolpius

Hm, thanks, Vanda, interesting.


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## momai

I didn't read the novel but according to Wiki ,the character is also called Friday "Joum3a" in the Arabic translation, which can be coincidentally also a proper name for males in Arabic.


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