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Seven days a week

    Happy weekends and I already feel sad because of the incoming Monday. It is always tough on Mondays when you realize a new week of work is coming like unstoppable waves of zombies and you have to fight for your survival and make it till a short precious break on weekends. But who created the week to calculate time and why do we name it this way?

Some planets were believed to bring good luck, others misfortune: Mars meant war and Venus, love. To each of the five planets known to them they dedicated a day, and with the sun and the moon, that made seven. This was the origin of our seven-day week. In English we still say Satur (Saturn)-day, Sun-day and Mon(moon)-day, but the other days are named after different gods. In other languages - such as French or Italian - most of the days of the week still belong to the planets that the Babylonians first named. (p.20)

    According to the short description from a little history of the world, we can know that the Babylonians created the weekend based on the observation of the five plants plus the moon and the sun. However, in English we can only find the moon, the sun and the saturn. Then where are the other planets?

    As I am studying French to better survive in Belgium, I first look into French. When I studied the days of the week in French, I thought that these words were arbitrary. Samedi is a bit easier than the other words, as it sounds like Saturday. However, from the information provided by Days of the week in French language - Elsa French Teacher, I learned that the arbitrary words actually symbolize different planets. As a language learner, it is always better to memorize words when I know the story behind the words to make sense. 



days in French and corresponding planets

    So Lundi is similar to Monday which derives from La lune (the moon). Mardi (Tuesday), Mercredi (Wednesday), Jeudi (Thursday), and Vendredi (Friday) are connected to different planets such as Mars, Mercure, Jupiter, and Venus. According to Days of the week in French language - Elsa French Teacher, "Samedi (Saturday) comes from Saturne. Previously, Romans used to call it Saturdi, but Christians changed it to Sabbati (the day of the Sabbat (Shabbat)), which became Samedi in French." Also, Sunday is "changed by Christians into Dimanche from latin dominicus (the Master, the Lord)". 

    However, due to the lack of knowledge of Romans, I am not fully convinced by the explanation. But it could be a possible explanation as the Italian version also supported the explanation of Saturday and Sunday. According to an Italian friend, the names of Saturday and Sunday are also influenced by Christianity. However, why Giove means Jupiter remains an unsolved question for me.  

  • Days in Italian

    (-dì means day)

    Planets

    Lunedì

    Luna, Moon

    Martedì

    Marte, Mars

    Mercoledì

    Mercurio, Mercury

    Giovedì

    Giove, Jupiter

    Venerdì

    Venere, Venus

    Sabato

    Sabbat

    Domenica

    Dominus, the day of the lord
days in Italian and corresponding planets

    It is interesting to see the history behind weekdays and weekends, as it implies a way to measure time. For some countries for example China and Japan, the wide use of the weekly calendar didn't come until modern times. Then how did they measure time in their own ways? I will try to write articles later to discover different measurements of time in China, Japan, and even other countries. 

    Time becomes calculable when we give it a name. The measurement of time reflects how we see life from a certain perspective. When every minute is calculated, our life becomes faster and we are terrified to see the time passing. However, the joy on Fridays (Venus, god of love) passes on all the way to the present which symbolizes the lovely end of a busy week and the beginning of a happy weekend.  


Reference: 

Gombrich, E. H. (2008). A little history of the world. Yale University Press.
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Location: 比利时鲁汶

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