THE DAYS OF THE WEEK
Gods, stars, numbers, ... the days of the week say more about our culture than we think. When we learn the days of the week they will surely make us repeat them, order the letters to form them, sing songs with them and a long list of possibilities to teach them, but ... have you ever stopped to think Where do they come from? What does each day mean?
Without further ado, I leave you with the days of the week of the 6 languages that you can find on the web (Spanish, English, Mandarin Chinese, Arabic, French and German).
THE DAY OF THE WEEK IN:
SPANISH, FRENCH, ENGLISH AND GERMAN
Languages that come from Latin and German, such as Spanish , French , English and German name the days of the week according to the main gods, stars and planets that represented their divinities.
- We start with the day dedicated to the Moon (lunae die), from which lunes in Spanish, lundi in French and even derives. M onday in English and Montag in German.
- The second day of the week is dedicated to the god of war, Mars, hence martes in Spanish and mardi in French. In Norse mythology, the god of war was Tyr, hence I derive Tuesday in English, and Donar in German, from which comes from Dienstag , although it is also said that Tuesday in German is named for being the day of service ( dienstag ).
- Thus, miércoles , jueves and viernes are dedicated to Mercury, Jupiter and Venus respectively, in French mercredi, jeudi, vendredi.
- In English, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are dedicated to Woden (also known as Odin), Thor, the god of thunder, and Frigg or Freyja, the goddess of love and beauty. Hence Wednesday (Woden’s Day), Thursday (Thor’s Day) and Friday (Frigg’s Day).
- In German, these days are known as Mittwoch (Middle of the week), Donnerstag ( Donner, god of thunder) and Freitag ( Frija, goddess of love and beauty).
- Let's go now with the weekend:
- Sábado was consecrated to the god Saturn, hence Saturday in English, but that would be very easy, so this was changed coming from the Jewish tradition of shabbat ( day of rest). For this reason we find samedi , in French and Samstag in German.
– En cuanto al último día de la semana se refiere, en inglés y en alemán está consagrado al Sol, de ahí Sunday en inglés y Sonntag en alemán. Sin embargo, en español y francés, debido a la tradición bíblica de celebrar el día del señor (dominicus en latín), se llaman domingo and dimanche respectivamente. ad
ARABIC AND MANDARIN CHINESE
As far as Arabic and Mandarin Chinese are concerned, the days of the week are not named after their gods or their cults to the stars, except for a small exception Instead, they are named after the order of the days of the week .
- The days of the week in Mandarin Chinese begin with xīng qī (星期) or zhōu (周), which means week, then they are numbered, with Monday being the day one. The exception comes with Sunday, which is not week seven, but rì (日), ‘day’ or ‘sun’ is added.
- The days of the week are:
Monday → xīng qī yī
Tuesday → xīng qī èr
Wednesday → xīng qī sān
Thursday → xīng qī sì
Friday → xīng qī wǔ
Saturday → xīng qī liù
Sunday → xīng qī rì
- In Arabic, the days of the week are also named based on their order, with Sunday being the first day of the week. The exceptions are Friday and Saturday, Friday is the day when everyone goes to pray the Yumu’ah prayer at the mosque. As for Saturday, it is written Al - sabt , it has the root of seven in Arabic ( Sabaa) although it could also come , as in other languages, of the Jewish Shabbat .
- The days of the week in Arabic are:
Monday → Al Iznain
Tuesday → A Zulazaa
Wednesday → Al Arbiaa
Thursday → Al Jamis
Friday → Al Yumu’ah
Saturday → A Sabt
Sunday → Al Ah
REFERENCES:
H. (2014, 8 abril). Curso básico: losdías de la semana en chino- Hablo Chino. hablochino.com. https://hablochino.com/dias-de-la-semana-en-chino/
Idiomas, C. (2016). Die Wochentage – Los días de la semana en alemán – Casa Idiomas, cursos y clases de alemán en Buenos Aires y Barcelona. {}. https://casaidiomas.com/blog/gramatica-alemana/758-los-dias-de-la-semana-en-aleman.html
Lingual, P. (2020). Días de la Semana / أيّام الأُسْبوع – Aprenda árabe con Polly Lingual. Polly Lingual. https://pollylingu.al/ar/es/lessons/1136
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