Why These Words Sunnandaeg, Monondaeg, Tiwesdaeg, Frigg, Saeterndaeg Are Important In The History Of Making A Calendar?

The Egyptians adopted the seven-day week, they named the days after five planets the sun and the moon. The Romans also used the Egyptians names for their days of the week; the day of the sun, of the moon, of the planet mars, of mercury, of Jupiter, of Venus and of Saturn.

The names we use today did not come from the Romans, but from the Anglo-Saxons who called most of the days after their own god. The names were roughly the same as the gods of the Romans. The day of the sun became Sunnandaeg, or Sunday. The day of the moon was called Monandaeg, or Monday. The day of Mars became the day of Tiw who was the god of war. This became Tiwesdaeg, or Tuesday. Instead of Mercury's name that of the god Woden was given to Wednesday. The Roman day of Jupiter, the Thunderer, became the day of the thunder god Thor, and this became Thursday. The next day was named for Frigg, the wife of their god Odin, so we have Friday. The day of Saturn became Saeternsdaeg and then Saturday.

A day was used to be counted as the space between sunrise and sunset. The Romans started to count it as from midnight to midnight and most modern nations use this method.

Add Comment

Report

The words are actually Norse names for the days of the week. Each is named after Norse gods and objects in the sky.

The Greeks and Romans, originally named the days of the week after their gods. The Anglo-Saxons, who invaded Britain, adopted this idea but substituted names of their own gods. The English language has altered the original names but here is the brief explanations of each:

Sunday: Sun's Day. Sunnandaeg. Of course, the Sun gave people light and warmth every day. This led to the first (or last) day of the week being named after the Sun.
Monday: Moon's Day. Monondaeg. The Moon was extremely important in the lives of people and especially vital to the timing of the growing of their crops.
Tuesday: Tiw's Day. Tiwesdaeg. Tiw, or Tyr, was a Norse god of justice.
Wednesday: Woden's Day. Wodnesdaeg. Woden, or Odin, was considered the most powerful Norse gods.
Thursday: Thor's Day. Thursdaeg. Thor was the Norse god of thunder who wielded a giant hammer.
Friday: Frigg's Day. Friegedaeg. Frigg was a Norse goddess who was equal in power to Odin.
Saturday: Seater's Day or Saturn's Day. Saeterndaeg. Saturn was a Roman god of agriculture and harvest.

Add Comment

Report