Part 1 

The Days of the Week in the West

Before looking at CJV, let's take a brief look at the origins of the week in the West. (This is a very brief summary. The development of the week from its ancient origins is both complex and fascinating. To get a proper picture, you should look at some of the many other sites around.)

The seven-day week is believed to have originated with the ancient Babylonians. The Babylonians arrived at the 'week' by dividing the lunar month into four lots of roughly seven days each. Each day was named after one of the so-called 'seven planets', i.e., the sun, the moon, and the five planets visible to the naked eye. The planets were named after the Babylonian gods. (Note, however, an alternative theory from ancient times attributes the planetary names for days of the week to the Egyptians).

The seven-day week, with days named after the planets, was then adopted by the Greeks, who substituted their own planetary names using the names of the Greek gods Ares, Hermes, Zeus, Aphrodite, and Chronos. The ancient Greek names for the days of the week were:

	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Greek	hemera heli(o)u	hemera selenes	hemera Areos	hemera Hermu	hemera Dios	hemera Aphrodites	hemera Khronu

In about the 1st century BC, the Romans also started using the seven-day week. Like the Greeks, they named the five planets after their own gods Mars, Mercury, Jove (Jupiter), Venus, and Saturn. The days of the week in Latin were:

	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Latin	dies solis	dies lunae	dies Martis	dies Mercurii	dies Jovis	dies Veneris	dies Saturni

In the Germanic languages, roughly similar Germanic gods were later substituted for the Roman ones, namely Tiu (Twia), Woden, Thor, and Freya (Fria). Only Saturn was retained from the Roman pantheon. By substituting the Germanic gods, however, the link with the planets was broken: the Germanic languages do not name the planets after their gods. The English words Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, descended from the Germanic names, have thus lost any relationship with the planets Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, and Venus.

The other source of day names in some Western European languages (but not English) was the Jewish and Christian calendars. Like many ancient peoples, the Hebrews used a seven-day week, which they possibly got from the Babylonians. The Hebrews did not use planetary names, preferring to designate the days by number. Only the seventh, the Sabbath, was given a specific name. The Jewish Sabbath, which corresponded to Saturday, was the day of rest and the last day of the week.

Christianity inherited the Jewish week. While the Sabbath was retained in theory, Christians gradually came to put more emphasis on the day after the Sabbath, which they saw as the 'Lord's Day' in celebration of Christ's resurrection at Easter. Sunday, the first day of the week, became both a day of worship and a day of rest for Christians.

The Christian version of the week was officially adopted by the Roman Emperor Constantine in AD 321. The old Sunday (dies solis) was specified as the 'Lord's Day' (dies Domenica) and identified as the first day of the week (Note 1: Is Monday the first day?). The rest of the week was largely numbered. The Greek names for the days of the week became:

	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Latin	Kyriaki 'of the Lord'	Deutera 'second'	Triti 'third'	Tetarti 'fourth'	Pempti 'fifth'	Paraskeui 'preparation'	Savvato 'Sabbath'

It should be noted that by this time, Greek rather than Latin had become the language of the Eastern Empire.

In the West, despite attempts by Pope Silvester to impose a system of numbering, the old pagan names persisted. They formed the basis of the modern Western names, which feature a mixture of Christian and pagan elements. English and other Germanic languages largely retain the pagan names. Italian, French, and Spanish adopt Judaeo-Christian religious terminology for Saturday (the Sabbath) and Sunday (the Lord's Day), but retain the planetary names for the days of the week. Only Portuguese has completely done away with the planetary names by substituting numbered days.

The above is a highly simplified treatment of the origins of the names of the days of the week. For a more complete coverage of this fascinating subject, please refer to the Web Links. Be warned, however, that there is no unanimity of views!

For reference, the days of the week in several Western European languages are given below:

English	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
German	Sonntag	Montag	Dienstag	Mittwoch	Donnerstag	Freitag	Samstag
Swedish	söndag	måndag	tisdag	onsdag	torsdag	fredag	lördag
French	dimanche	lundi	mardi	mercredi	jeudi	vendredi	samedi
Spanish	domingo	lunes	martes	miércoles	jueves	viernes	sábado
Italian	domenica	lunedì	martedì	mercoledì	giovedì	venerdì	sabato
Portuguese	domingo	segunda-feira	terça-feira	quarta-feira	quinta-feira	sexta-feira	sábado

Notes: German 'Mittwoch' means 'mid-week'. Swedish 'lördag' means 'washday'.

For a list of links, see Web Links Next: Japanese, Chinese, and Vietnamese (best read in that order).