Patricia William, age 12, of Richmond, Virginia, for her question:
Who named the days of the week?
Andy wishes a Happy Christmas to each and all, large and small. This year the Great Day falls on a Friday, but Friday's name is older than the Christian Era. It dates back to the Norse peoples of Scandinavia who, sad to say, later added a very un Christian chapter to their history. We adopted their Friday into our language about 1,000 years ago, when the Norse Vikings plundered and conquered much of Europe.
Each day of the week has a story wandering back into the remote past a story entwined with human history. Several early civilizations invented a seven day week as a convenient quarter of the lunar month. This system was used by the ancient Egyptians and later by the Greeks and the Romans. The seven day week was also either adopted or invented by the Norsemen and by various other peoples of Europe. Each language group had its own name for the days.
The ancient Egyptians named their seven days for the sun, the moon and the five planets that were visible to them. The Romans tended to name heavenly bodies for their gods and goddesses. The names of their days belonged to dieties and also to the sun, the moon and the five visible planets. The Norsemen and other peoples of Central Europe used the names of their deities and heroes. Some but not all of them were associated with heavenly bodies.
The Romans and later the Vikings spread throughout most of Europe. Conquering armies tend to impose their customs and languages. Our language was woven from a tapestry of many such historic events. Often the threads merged together to create words from two or more sources. For example, the only European name, "moon day," sounded similar to the Latin "Lunae dies." The two names were merged to give us our name for Monday.
Before the Christian Era, most of Europe adopted Latin names for the days from the conquering Romans. Four of these celestial names were changed about'1,000 years later, when the Norse Vikings swept across Europe. Our Saturday is borrowed from the Romans, who named it for the planet Saturn, named for the deposed father of their gods. We adopted and adapted their Sunday, named for the sun. Monday is a merger of Latin and Norse with echoes of other European languages.
The Roman day of Mars, god of war, was renamed for Tiu, the Viking god of war ¬and became Tuesday. Wednesday was renamed to honor Woden, king of the Norse gods. Thor, the Norse god of thunder, replaced the Roman day of Jupiter, which became Thursday. The Romans named the planet Venus and a day of the week for their goddess of love. This was later changed to honor Frigga, wife of Woden and the Norse goddess of motherly love. This day became Friday.
Friday seems a very suitable day for Christmas to fall upon. The name of this day of the week brings many tender associations from the past. The Greeks, Romans, and perhaps the Egyptians enhanced it with a Sanskrit idea meaning dearly beloved wife. Venus represented love and Frigga was the Norse model of tender affection. Surely all this should add an extra Ho! Ho! to Santa's merriment.