The Seven Luminaries, Five Elements, and Names of the Planets in Mongolian
As pointed out elsewhere, the Japanese days of the week are named after the Seven Luminaries (七曜 shichiyō), a term referring to the Sun, the Moon, and the five visible planets. The Japanese borrowed the term from Chinese 七曜 qīyào.
The 七曜 qīyào (Seven Luminaries) are known in Mongolian as долоон гариг doloon garig or долоон гараг doloon garag 'the seven planets'.
The Chinese names of the five visible planets are based on the Five Elements or Five Phases (五行 wǔxíng). In Mongolian, the five elements or phases are as shown below: (Note that the traditional order of the five elements is not the same as that of the planets.)
| Element | Mongolian (incl. Buryat) | Chinese character | Chinese (Mandarin) and Japanese reading |
| Metal | ᠲᠡᠮᠦᠷ төмөр tömör (Buryat: Түмэр tümär) |
金 | Ch: jīn Ja: kin Ko: geum |
| Wood | ᠮᠣᠳᠣ мод mod (Buryat: модон modon) |
木 | Ch: mù Ja: moku Ko: mog |
| Water | ᠣᠰᠣ ус us (Buryat: уһан uhan) |
水 | Ch: shuǐ Ja: sui Ko: su |
| Fire | ᠭᠠᠯ гал gal (Buryat: гал gal) |
火 | Ch: huǒ Ja: ka Ko: hwa |
| Earth | ᠰᠢᠷᠣᠢ шороо shoroo (Buryat: шорой shoroj) |
土 | Ch: tǔ Ja: do Ko: to |
The Mongolian names of the days of the week based on the five elements are:
| Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
| наран өдөр | саран өдөр | гал өдөр | усан өдөр | модон өдөр | төмөр өдөр, алтан өдөр |
шороон өдөр |
| naraŋ ödör | saraŋ ödör | gal ödör | usaŋ ödör | modoŋ ödör | tömör ödör, altaŋ ödör |
shorooŋ ödör |
| 'sun day' |
'moon day' | 'fire day' | 'water day' | 'wood day' | 'iron day, gold day' | 'earth day' |
Names of the planets
In scientific use, the planetary names in Mongolia now usually follow the Indian names:
| Planetary Names | |
| Mercury |
Буд bud |
| Venus |
Сугар sugar |
| Mars |
Ангараг aŋgarag |
| Jupiter |
Бархасбадь barkhasbad' |
| Saturn |
Санчир saŋchir |
| Uranus | Тэнгэрийн ван tengeriŋ vaŋ |
| Nepture | Далайн ван dalaiŋ vaŋ |
The last two names mean 'king of heaven' and 'king of the sea' respectively. ван vaŋ is from the Chinese word 王 wáng 'king'.
In Inner Mongolia, there is no single set of standard names for the planets, although names corresponding to the Chinese five elements (phases) tend to be favoured. Uranus and Neptune are known as Тэнгэрийн ван гараг tengeriŋ vaŋ garag 'heaven king star' and Далайн ван гараг dalaiŋ vaŋ garag 'sea king star' respectively.
