THE ORIGIN OF THE NAMING OF THE SEVEN DAYS OF THE WEEK
As far back as there is a memory or record, most humans have operated on a seven day week. The source for the modern day English naming of these seven days goes back to ancient times and is based on the fact that there were only five planets (Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn), the sun and the moon in view to the naked eye. These “planets,” which unlike the stars moved in the night, were like Gods, and the ancients revered their gods and related the passage of time to them.
Relating a day to a god is one thing, but creating an order that the days would appear is another. Most historians believe that this was determined by the proximity of the planets to the earth, rather than the status of the gods. The Ptolemaic system ordered the planets from farthest to closest to earth: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury and Moon. However, if we were to use this is as the base for the order of the days of the week, Saturday (Saturn) would be followed by Thursday (Jupiter), and Sunday by Friday (Venus).
The Egyptians had other ideas on how to determine the order. They believed that the first hour of the first day of the week was ruled by Saturn, the second hour by Jupiter, the third hour by Mars and so on. After the first seven hours were completed, the cycle was repeated, starting again with Saturn. The Egyptians had already figured out that there was close to 24 hours in a day, so the 24th hour of the first day ended up being Mars, and the 25th hour, or the first hour of the next day was the Sun. That day then was named after the Sun. If you were to continue the ongoing seven hour cycle, you would find that the first hour of the third day was the Moon, the first hour of the fourth day was Mars, the fifth day started on Mercury, the sixth on Jupiter and the seventh on Venus.
With the sequence of days now established, the next issue to determine was which day should be first. In Egypt the first day of a week was Saturn's day (Saturday), but on their flight from the Egyptians, the Jews changed this and made Saturday their Sabbath, the last day of the week. The early Romans, who developed and made popular the Julian calendar, used Saturday as the first day of the week. As the worshipping of the Sun increased, the Sun's day (Sunday) advanced from position of the second day to the first day of the week (and Saturday became the seventh day). It was not until Christianity took hold throughout Europe that most calendars marked Sunday as the first day of the week. Some cultures adopted Monday as the first day. For example, in Russian the name "second" is used for Tuesday.
Most western calendars currently show the week beginning on Sunday. However, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has decreed that Monday is the first day of the week (International Standard ISO-8601, which is the document that is designed to achieve one simple, logical and coherent format for all dates, times, and periods of time requiring to be represented.).
As to the naming of each day, the origins of the English names come from various sources. Sunday comes from the Latin dies solis, meaning "sun's day," which was also the name of a pagan Roman holiday. The Romans, however, did not get all of the names. Monday comes from the Anglo-Saxon monandaeg, "the moon's day.” To get to the origin of the next day, Tuesday, we venture north to Scandinavia. This day was named after the Norse god Tyr, the god of war. How does this connect with the planet Mars? Well, the Roman god of war was named Mars.
It turns out that the Vikings had quite an influence in creating the Anglo names of the week. The next three are all named after Norse gods. Wednesday comes from Wodan, otherwise known as Odin, the chief divinity of the Norse gods. There happens to be no relation between the Roman god Mercury and Odin. Thursday is named after Thor, the Norse god of thunder and son of Odin. Once again there is no relation to Jupiter, the Roman’s most important god. You would think that a better fit would have been to switch Thor and Wodan, but then try making that argument while you are looking down the sword of a warrior Viking.
The naming of Friday brings back some order to the process. Friday is named in honor of Frigg, the Norse goddess of love and fertility. To the Romans this day was named after to Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. With Saturday we go back to Rome. This day was called dies Saturni, "Saturn's Day", in honor of Saturn, the Roman god of agriculture.
