We have seven days in the week because the ancients thought we had seven planets, and each day was named after a planet. Well, that's according to Neil deGrasse Tyson in this short video.
Note that at the time they believed there were seven planets: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the Sun and the Moon. The Sun and Moon were considered planets from the Greek word meaning wanderer.
According to The names of the days of the week - origin and meaning, the Romans named their days of the week after the planets. The five real planets were also names of their gods. The Vikings then copied this practice.
English appears to have inherited most of its week day names from Norse, although there are exceptions.
Sunday: The Sun
Monday: The Moon
Tuesday: Named after the Viking god Tyr, the god of Justice and War. He is the Nordic equivalent of Mars.
Wednesday: Named after the Viking god Odin, also knows as Woden. Odin is most equivalent to the Roman god Mercury.
Thursday: Named after Thor, who because he deals with lightning and thunder, is equivalent to Jupiter.
Friday: Name after the Norse god Frigg, who like Venus, was the god of love.
Saturday: Saturn
No comments:
Post a Comment