Many people are unaware that the days of the week are named after many of the ancient Gods from human history.
As the Vikings and ancient Romans settled in different countries they brought their traditions with them including their names for the days of the week.
In English, the names of the days of the week are as follows:
Monday – Moon’s day
Tuesday – Norse God Tyr’s day
Wednesday – Norse God Odin’s (Woden’s) day
Thursday – Norse God Thor’s day
Friday – Norse God Freya’s day
Saturday – Roman God Saturn’s day
Sunday – Sun’s day
In other Germanic languages, the names of the days of the week follow a similar pattern to English – half of them go back to the Roman names and half of them to the names of the Germanic gods.
Montag (Monday) – Moon’s day
Dienstag (Tuesday) – from deus (Latin for god) and Mars – Tuesday
Mittwoch (Wednesday) – the middle of the week – Wednesday
Donnerstag (Thursday) – Thunder God’s Thor day (Donner – thunder) – Thursday
Freitag (Friday) – God Frigg’s (or Freya’s) day – Friday
Samstag (Saturday) – God Saturn’s day – Saturday
Sonntag (Sunday) – Sun God’s day – Sunday
In Italian, these are the days of the week:
Lunedi (Monday) – Luna’s day (Moon’s day)
Martedi (Tuesday) – God Mars’ day
Mercoledi (Wednesday) – God Mercury’s day
Giovedi (Thursday) – God Jupiter’s day
Venerdi (Friday) – Goddess Venus’ day
Sabato (Saturday) – Sabbath
Domenica (Sunday) – Lord’s day