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Where did the name Saturday and Sunday come from? Origin of Russian and foreign names of days of the week

To begin with, it is worth understanding why is a week called "week". The fact is that earlier, even before the adoption of Christianity, Sunday was called a week. And it was the first day of the week. However, later Sunday began to be considered the last day ending the week. Why? Let's figure it out.

The word "week" happened from the combination “not to do”, that is, to rest. It’s still wiser to rest after work (remember the Russian proverb “If you’ve done the job, go for a walk!”), so the most “loafing” day became the last. Nowadays, the beginning of the week from Monday is regulated International organization standardization.

But at first it was the “week” (the day of the week, which later became “Sunday”) that began the seven-day period. Apparently, before a week (in modern meaning) They called it not a “week”, but a “week”. In Bulgarian, by the way, even now “week” is called “week”. And then they called the week “week” (seven days from week to week - from Sunday to Sunday).

ORIGIN OF THE NAMES OF THE DAYS OF THE WEEK

Why is Monday called Monday? The word "" is derived from "after a week." Monday was the first day after Sunday, which in ancient times was called “week”. The root of the word is Monday. It is formed in a suffixal way (suffix -nick-).

Why is Tuesday called Tuesday? Tuesday - from the word “second”. The second day after the “week” (this Sunday). Note - not the second day of the week, but the second after the week. The root is second, the suffix is nick.

Why is the environment called the environment? This word also came from Old Church Slavonic (like “week”, “Monday”, “Tuesday”). It has a common root with the words “heart”, “middle”. Please note: Wednesday is the middle of the week only if the week starts on Sunday. This day stands between the first three days of the week and the last. Nowadays, when the week begins on Monday, “Wednesday” does not live up to its name.

Why wasn’t Wednesday called “tretnik” (by analogy with “Tuesday”) or “treteynik” (although, according to some sources, it was “tretnik” that Wednesday was called in ancient times)? Remember the names of the fingers! The one in the middle is called - middle finger, and not the third or some other one. In ancient times, the middle was given special meaning(it’s not for nothing that “middle” and “heart” are words with the same root).

It is interesting that in some other languages the day of the week “Wednesday” is translated literally as “middle” (for example, in German Mittwoch).

Some researchers argue that Wednesday is not the middle of a seven-day week, but a five-day one. Allegedly, at first the week consisted of five days, and then, due to the influence christian church, two additional days were added to it.

Why is Thursday called Thursday? Like “Tuesday,” the word “Thursday” is formed in accordance with the ordinal number of the day of the week after Sunday. “Thursday” is formed from the common Slavic word “chetvertk”, which, in turn, was formed in a suffixal way from the word “fourth”. Most likely, over time, the sound “t” dropped out - “four” remained, and gradually the sound “k” became “voiced”, since it follows the sonorant (always voiced) sound “r”. As a result, we have a day of the week called “Thursday”.

Why is Friday called Friday? Everything is a little more complicated. Of course, the word is derived from the number “five” (the fifth day after the beginning of the week). But why not “Pyatnik” or “Pyatak”? The fact is that even before the adoption of Christianity, the Slavic goddess Friday (related to the fifth day) was revered. Therefore, the fifth day was named in honor of the goddess Friday, and not Pyatnik.

Why is Saturday called Saturday? The word came from Old Slavonic language. It was once borrowed from the Greek language (from the Greek Sabbaton). And it came to the Greek language from the Hebrew language (from sabbath - “the seventh day when you need to abstain from work”). Shabbat is how this Hebrew word is pronounced, literally meaning “peace”, “rest”.

By the way, the word “Sabbath” has the same roots, so “Saturday” and “Sabbath” are related words. It is also interesting that not only in Russian the name of this day of the week comes from the Hebrew “Sabbath”: in Spanish, and in Italian, and in French the word for Saturday has one origin. However, in many other languages. This can be explained simply - distribution Christian religion influenced the dictionaries of many languages.

Why is Sunday called Sunday? Sunday - this word, as already mentioned, replaced the word “week”. It arose, of course, after the adoption of Christianity in Rus'. The word is derived from “resurrect”. Formed in a suffix way (suffix -enij-). This is the day on which, according to the scriptures, he was resurrected.

In our everyday life there are many familiar things, the meaning of which we do not think about. For example, few people know why the days of the week are called that way, or why the week lasts 7 days and not, for example, 20 days. Especially for inquisitive readers, we have prepared an article that contains answers to this topic.

Article outline:

Why does a week last 7 days?

The seven-day cycle and the original name of the days of the week came to us from Mesopotamia. Babylonian astrologers believed that human life is influenced by seven celestial bodies, which, as they were sure, moved around the motionless Earth: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the Sun and the Moon (in ancient times - Uranus, Neptune and Pluto). This belief allowed each day to be assigned to a different planet, resulting in a seven-day cycle. In addition, the number 7 in Mesopotamia was considered a symbol of prosperity. Since the Babylonians believed that each celestial body governed its own day of the week, they assigned each individual day a corresponding name based on the names of these planets or Babylonian deities.

As a result of the conquests of Alexander the Great, these beliefs began to spread through the Middle East to the Mediterranean. Over time, the idea of introducing days of the week took root in Ancient Greece and Rome. Initially, it was probably limited to the circle of astrologers, who had to somehow record time intervals. But later the Romans replaced the Babylonian names with the corresponding names of deities from their mythology. The day of the week system gained popularity, and in 321 AD. was officially recognized by the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great. The first day of the week was Sunday (Latin dies Solis) - a day of rest and worship of the Sun.

By the way, scientists recognize that the seven-day cycle most closely matches the rhythm of a person’s life. This means that if the week were longer, human body could not fully rest or work.

Names of the days of the week in Russian

The names of the days of the week in our language, as in most Slavic languages, received from the beginning of the Christianization of the Slavs by missionaries in the seventh century AD. These names did not come from the planets (unlike the Romance languages), but were created numerically. That is, the days of the week were counted in order from Sunday (first, second, third day, etc.).

Sunday

In the beginning, Sunday was the first day of the week, and in ancient Russian it was called the word “ndel”, and meant a day on which “they do nothing,” that is, they rest. Therefore, the entire seven-day cycle was called the word “week” (by analogy with the name of the first day of this cycle).

Later in the Russian language the word “ndil” was replaced by the word “Sunday”, since on the day after Saturday, according to Christian faith, Jesus Christ has risen. But in most Slavic languages, this day of the week still retains its old name - for example, in the Ukrainian language “nedilya”, in Belarusian - “nyadzelya”, in Serbian - “nedeja”.

Monday

Monday literally means the day that comes after Sunday. As we wrote above, the Slavs called Sunday with the word “week,” which means that the day after this day was called the phrase “after the week.” Over time, to make pronunciation easier, the two words merged into one and became a noun - this is how Monday appeared.

Tuesday

Tuesday is the second day after Sunday (from the Proto-Slavic word “vtorŭ” - “second”). Just as with Monday, this designation became a masculine noun.

Wednesday

The name comes from the word “middle”, and means the middle day of the week. To make pronunciation easier, the sounds were assimilated: middle~middle~medium.

However, there is another version of this name. According to some linguists, the origin of this word dates back to the old German, where the word “środek” meant “center” (in our case, the center of the week).

Thursday

The name of this day of the week comes from the number “four” and means the fourth day after Sunday.

Friday

Here, too, everything is simple: the word “Friday” comes from the number “five” and means the fifth day after Sunday. But why this day of the week feminine? Etymologists claim that the roots must be sought in the pagan beliefs of the Slavs, when Friday was the day of glorification of the female deity Mokosh. By the way, among the ancient Greeks, Friday was associated with Venus, the patroness of women and the family hearth. This suggests that in different cultures traditions and worldviews have a close relationship.

Saturday

The name comes from the word “Shabbat” - a holiday of rest, which is celebrated by followers of Judaism and some Christian churches. This holiday lasts from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday.

So why was it decided to name the days of the week in the order they come after Sunday? The fact is that with the advent of Christianity, the pagan names of the days of the week had to be replaced, because this was required by the new religion. Words that were used in Western European languages were difficult to translate, since they were also derived from mythological deities. Therefore, Saint Methodius decided to come up with simple names days of the week, based on ordinal numbers. These words were easily remembered by the Slavs and firmly entered into everyday life.

Did you know that in Rus' the first day of the 7-day cycle was called a week, Friday came from the Slavic goddess, and “Saturday” and “Sabbath” are related words? And this is not all the secrets of the week and its days.

Why 7 days

According to historians, in human history, a week has not always had seven days. There were options for a 3-day and 5-day week, in Ancient Rome - an eight-day week, the Celts divided the week into 9 days, and the ancient Germans - into 14 nights. The ancient Egyptian Thoth calendar was based on a 10-day cycle.

But the seven-day period was popular in Ancient Babylon (about 2 thousand years BC). this was due to the phases of the moon. She was seen in the sky for about 28 days: 7 days the Moon increases to the first quarter; she needs the same amount before the full moon.

In addition, the ancient Jews also used a 7-day cycle. So, in the 1st century AD. Jewish historian Josephus wrote: “There is not a single city, Greek or barbarian, and not a single people to which our custom of abstaining from work on the seventh day would not extend.” As you know, the Old Testament says that God created the world in 6 days, and on the seventh he rested. Christians borrowing from Jews Old Testament, also began to adhere to a 7-day cycle.

From an astronomical point of view, the choice of the seven-day period is explained quite simply. The lunar phases were convenient to observe and based on them it was easy to calculate and characterize time periods.

In addition, in the ancient Roman calendar, the names of all 7 days of the week are associated with luminaries that can be seen with the naked eye, namely: the Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn. Rome spread its calendar throughout Europe. And although the Old World subsequently tried several times to change the 7-day cycle, it is obvious that the attempts were not successful.

From week to week

Previously, even before the adoption of Christianity, Sunday was called a week. And it was the first day of the week. However, later Sunday began to be considered the last day ending the week. Why? The word “week” comes from the combination “not to do,” that is, to rest. It’s still wiser to rest after work (remember the Russian proverb “If you’ve done the job, go for a walk!”), so the most lazy day became the last. Nowadays, the beginning of the week on Monday is regulated by the International Organization for Standardization.

Previously, the 7-day cycle was called “week” (in Bulgarian, by the way, even now “week” is called “week”, and this term is used in Orthodoxy). And then the seven-day period was nicknamed “week” (seven days from week to week - from Sunday to Sunday).

Why are the days called that?

Monday

The word "Monday" is derived from "after the week." Monday was the first day after Sunday, which in ancient times was called “week”.

In Europe, Monday was considered a lunar day, i.e. day, whose patron was the Moon. In Latin (had a huge influence on European languages) - Lunae dies, in English - Monday (Moon day = lunar day), in French - Lundi, in Spanish - Lunes, in Italian - Lunedi.

Tuesday

From the word "second". The second day after the “week” (this Sunday). Note - not the second day of the week, but the second after the week.

In European languages Romanesque group Tuesday's name comes from the Roman god Mars. In Latin - Martis dies, in French - Mardi, in Spanish - Martes, in Italian - Martedi.

But in the European languages of the Germanic group the emphasis was placed on ancient Greek god Tiu (Tiu, Ziu), which is an analogue of Mars (Finnish - Tiistai, English - Tuesday, German - Dienstag).

Wednesday

This word also came from Old Church Slavonic (like “week”, “Monday”, “Tuesday”). It has a common root with the words “heart”, “middle”. Please note: Wednesday is the middle of the week only if the week starts on Sunday. This day stands between the first three days of the week and the last. Nowadays, when the week begins on Monday, “Wednesday” does not live up to its name.

Why wasn’t Wednesday called “tertnik” (by analogy with “Tuesday”) or “treteynik” (although, according to some sources, it was “tretnik” that Wednesday was called in ancient times)? Remember the names of the fingers! The one in the middle is called the middle finger, not the third or anything else. In ancient times, the middle was given special meaning (it’s not for nothing that “middle” and “heart” are the same root words).

Interestingly, in some other languages the day of the week “Wednesday” is translated literally as “middle” (for example, in German Mittwoch or in Finnish Keskeviikko).

Some researchers argue that Wednesday is not the middle of a seven-day week, but a five-day one. Allegedly, at first the week consisted of five days, and then, due to the influence of the Christian church, two additional days were added to it.

In Latin - Mercuri dies, in French - Mercredi, in Spanish - Miercoles, in Italian - Mercoledi. The names clearly indicate the name of the god-planet Mercury.
If you delve deeper into other languages, you will find that English word Wednesday comes from the god Woden (Woden, Wotan). It is “hidden” in the Swedish Onstag, the Dutch Woenstag and the Danish Onsdag. This god was represented as a tall, thin old man, dressed in a black cloak. He became famous for creating the runic alphabet - this is what connects him with Mercury, the patron of written and oral speech.

Thursday

Like “Tuesday,” the word “Thursday” is formed in accordance with the ordinal number of the day of the week after Sunday. “Thursday” is formed from the common Slavic word “chetvertk”, which, in turn, was formed in a suffixal way from the word “fourth”. Most likely, over time, the sound “t” dropped out - “four” remained, and gradually the sound “k” became “voiced”, since it follows the sonorant (always voiced) sound “r”. As a result, we have a day of the week called “Thursday”.

In Romance languages, Thursday came from the warlike Jupiter. In Latin - Jovis dies, in French - Jeudi, in Spanish - Jueves, in Italian - Giovedi.
The analogue of Jupiter in the Germanic languages was Thor, son of Odin, from which came the English Thursday, Finnish Torstai, Swedish Torsdag, German Donnerstag and Danish Torsdag.

Friday

Things are a little more complicated on Friday. Of course, the word is derived from the number “five” (the fifth day after the beginning of the week). But why not “Pyatnik” or “Pyatak”? The fact is that even before the adoption of Christianity, the Slavic goddess Friday (related to the fifth day) was revered. Therefore, the fifth day was named in honor of the goddess Friday, and not Pyatnik.

In Romance languages, the name of this day comes from the Roman goddess Venus: in French Vendredi, in Spanish Viernes, in Italian Venerdi, in Latin Veneris dies.

Her analogue in German-Scandinavian myths is the goddess of love and war Freya (Frigg, Freira) - from her they originated English Friday, in Swedish Fredag, in German Freitag.

Saturday

It was once borrowed from the ancient Greek language (from the Greek Sabbaton). And it came to Ancient Greek from the Hebrew language (from sabbath - “the seventh day when you need to abstain from work”). Shabbat is how this Hebrew word is pronounced, literally meaning “peace”, “rest”.

By the way, the word “Sabbath” has the same roots, so “Saturday” and “Sabbath” are related words. It is also interesting that not only in Russian the name of this day of the week comes from the Hebrew “Sabbath”. In Spanish (Sabado), Italian (Sabato), and French (Samedi), as in many other languages, the word for Saturday has the same origin. This can be explained simply - the spread of the Christian religion, which is expressed in Latin (and is based Latin language lies ancient Greek) influenced the dictionaries of many languages.

But not everything is so simple: in the names of this day in Latin (Saturni dies) and in English (Saturday) Saturn (the ancient Roman god of agriculture and fertility) can be traced.

Finnish Lauantai, Swedish Lordag and Danish Loverdag most likely have roots in the Old German Laugardagr, which means "day of ablution".

Sunday

This word, as already mentioned, replaced the word “week”. It arose, of course, after the adoption of Christianity in Rus'. The word is derived from “resurrect”. This is the day on which, according to the scriptures, Jesus was resurrected.

The Christian theme can also be traced in the Romance languages. The Spanish Domingo, French Dimanche and Italian Domenica can be translated as "Day of the Lord".

But in Latin (Solis dies), English (Sunday) and German (Sonntag) the name last day weeks comes from the Sun.

Hello! We continue to get acquainted with everyday English vocabulary. In addition to the names of the seasons and months, we often call the days of the week. This article is devoted specifically to them: their origin, name, use and memorization techniques. If you want to learn to speak English, then you should be one of the first to learn the days of the week in English.

English-speaking countries, like us, use a seven-day week. In most of them, the seven-day period begins on Monday, that is, the first day of the week is Monday. But in the USA, Canada, and Israel, the countdown starts on Sunday. However, working days are from Monday to Friday. Remember this rule so as not to get confused when studying the American calendar.

One more distinctive feature is that English days of week refer to proper names. This means that they, like months, are always written with a capital letter, regardless of their order in the sentence. Including an abbreviated form of designation of days. days of the week abbreviated Another uniqueness English days weeks - the fact that to abbreviate in the calendar the first two letters are simply taken from the word - Mo., Tu., We. In Russian, the abbreviation occurs according to two consonant letters - Mon., Tue., Sat. sometimes English may use one or three letters - Fri., Thu., Sat. And when writing a date, the day of the week is written first: Sun, 9 March 2014.

How to correctly pronounce the days of the week in English?

To learn how to correctly pronounce English days of week, carefully study the table and transcription:

Name in English	Transcription	Pronunciation in Russian	Translation
MondayMonday	["mΛndei]	Monday	Monday	Mon
TuesdayTuesday	["tju:zdi]	Tuesday	Tuesday	Tue
WednesdayWednesday	["wenzdei]	"Wednesday	Wednesday	Wed
ThursdayThursday	["θə:zdei]	Thursday	Thursday	Thu
FridayFriday	["fraidei]	Friday	Friday	Fri
SaturdaySaturday	["sætədei]	Saturday	Saturday	Sat
SundaySunday	["sΛndei]	Sunday	Sunday	Sun

Download the table, print it out and place it in a visible place so that it can be repeated or observed at any convenient time;).

Watch also the video pronunciation lesson

Grammar

Before moving on to the rules of grammar, let’s find out how to say the time of day in English:

Day - afternoon [ˌɑːftə"nuːn]
Night
Morning - morning ["mɔːnɪŋ]
Evening - evening ["iːvnɪŋ]

Times of day in English Grammar rules regarding English days of the week and day can be reduced to the following several laws:

Always capitalized: I like Sunday
When denoting days, they are used with the preposition “till, by, from, on”: Christmas on Saturday, and when denoting the time of day - the preposition “in”: in the afternoon
Used with the following prepositions and definitions: this, every other, next, by / before, every, last
The preposition is not used in combination with these words: last Wednesday
The article is usually not used

Everything is extremely simple, understandable and accessible.

Methods for remembering English days of the week

In order to remember something, use any, even the most illogical and sometimes crazy, methods. The main thing is the result, but how you achieve it is not important. I will offer several options, and you choose the one you like or come up with your own.

Option number one. Based on a sound analogy:

Monday - Monkey - monkey or Moon Day - lunar day, and sometimes maybe Monster Day (especially after yesterday)
Tuesday - True - real or Use Day - a useful day, spend it productively
Wednesday - Wedding - wedding or When is Day - day of questions
Thursday - Syoss is a well-advertised shampoo today. Headwash Day
Friday - Freedom - freedom (work week ends) or fraternity day
Saturday - Satan - the devil, on Saturday we party like the devil, but for some it’s Sad a Day - sad Saturday
Sunday - Sun - sun, the most cheerful and bright English days of week

Days of the week Second option. Use rhyming memory songs:

Monday's child is nice and slow
Tuesday’s child is go, go, go Wednesday’s child is very funny
Thursday's child is happy and sunny
Friday's child is like a king
Saturday's child can dance and sing
Sunday's child can stand on her head
And count the ghosts under her bed!

Listen to the pronunciation of these words in English, look for something familiar in their sound, draw analogies, come up with memorizations according to the principle: the funnier the faster. And you will succeed!

And finally, option number three. By origin. The names of the days of the week in the Romance and Germanic languages came from the names of celestial bodies, which, in turn, received their names from the Old Norse and Roman gods. Even in ancient times, people found out that the planets move, and began to measure the passage of time according to their movements.

So they took the lunar month, which was approximately 29 days, as the main time unit of time. This period, in turn, included 4 lunar phases, which lasted about 7 days. Exactly from lunar phase and the seven-day period appeared. Then people knew only 7 planets, and then they decided to name them in honor of the most revered gods. English culture adopted several names from the Romans:

Monday - Moon
Saturday - Saturn
Sunday - Sun

Saturday - Saturn The remaining names were formed later from the Scandinavian mythical gods, whose motifs were brought to British Isles Vikings:

Tuesday - Tiw
Wednesday - Woden
Thursday - Thor
Friday - Freya

As a result, the now familiar seven-day week for the British appeared:

Origin of the days of the week
Monday	Moon	Moon
Tuesday	Tiu	Tiu - son of Odin, god of war
Wednesday	Woden	Supreme god of the Vikings Odin
Thursday	Thor	Thor - son of Odin, god of thunder
Friday	Freya	Freya - goddess of fertility
Saturday	Saturn
Sunday	Sun	Sun

Choose the option you like and study days in English using any of the methods, or come up with it yourself. Watch the video to practice your pronunciation. You can show educational cartoons for children.

Yakimova Ksenia

Work that took part in the city interschool conference "First steps into science"

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Preview:

XV CITY INTERSCHOOL CONFERENCE

"FIRST STEPS INTO SCIENCE"

Section "German"

The origin of the names of the days of the week in Russian and German

Completed:

Class 4A student

MBOU Secondary School No. 123 of the Sovetsky District

Yakimova Ksenia Scientific supervisor:

Krutaleva S.S.,

German teacher

Samara, 2014

Introduction 3

Chapter 1. Origin of the seven-day week. 4

Chapter 2. The origin of the names of the days of the week in Russian and German.

The origin of the names of the days of the week in Russian. 6
Origin of the names of the days of the week in German. 9

Conclusion 11

Bibliography 12

Appendix 13

Introduction.

Saying many words in everyday life, we rarely think about their origin. But every word has its own history of origin and further spread throughout the world. It is unlikely that anyone has thought about the origin of the names of the days of the week. Who invented them and when, because in ancient times they did not have their own names?

The topic of my work is “The origin of the names of the days of the week in Russian and German.” In everyday life, we use words denoting the days of the week every day. I was curious to know where these names came from.

The purpose of this work is to identify similarities and differences in the meaning of the names of the days of the week in Russian and German. To achieve the goal, the following tasks were set:

Find out the history of the seven-day week.
Find information about the origin of the names of the days of the week in Russian and German.
Identify similarities and differences in their names.

Origin of the seven-day week

In ancient times there was a time when the days of the week did not have their own names. The reason is very simple. The man hasn't come up with a week yet. In that era, time was only divided into months, so there were too many days to assign a name to each of them. But with the construction of cities, people needed a separate day for trade, a market day. Sometimes such days were held every tenth day of the month, sometimes every seventh or every fifth. In Babylon it was every seventh day. On this day no one worked, people met for trade and for religious ceremonies.

The Jews adopted this example, only they set aside every seventh day for religious purposes. This is how the week appeared - the days between market, or market days. The Jews gave a name to each day, in other words, it was its serial number after Saturday - the day preceding the market day.

The Egyptians, who adopted the week system, named the days of the week after five planets, the Sun and the Moon. IN ancient Rome also enjoyed Egyptian names days of the week: day of the Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn.

Exists mixed form names of the days of the week: from Monday to Friday - serial numbers of days, Saturday and Sunday - these names are of religious origin.

By the way, when we say “day,” it means the period of time between sunrise and sunset. In ancient Rome, the day lasted from midnight to midnight, and nowadays many countries use this method.

Historical sources date the first mention of a seven-day week to the period of Ancient Babylon (about 2 thousand years BC), from there this tradition passed to the Jews, Greeks, Romans and, of course, to the Arabs. The Jewish historian Josephus Flavius already in the 1st century. AD writes: “There is not a single city, Greek or barbarian, and not a single people to which our custom of abstaining from work on the seventh day would not extend.” It is believed that India also adopted the seven-day period from Babylon.

For Jews and Christians, the Old Testament gives answers to these questions, from which it becomes clear that the seven-day structure of time was established by God. Let me remind you: on the first day of creation light was created, on the second - water and firmament, on the third - land, seas and flora, in the fourth - luminaries and stars, in the fifth - fauna, on the sixth, man was created and commanded to multiply, but the seventh day was sacred for rest.

The seven-day week turned out to be very viable, even the transition from Julian calendar the sequence of days did not change into Gregorian, the rhythm was not disrupted. There is also an astronomical explanation for the seven-day period. 7 days is approximately a quarter lunar month, observation of the phases of the Moon was for the ancients the most accessible and convenient way of measuring time. A more subtle explanation can be found in the correspondence of the seven visible planets to the days of the week, and it is this logical development that sheds light on the origin of the modern calendar names for the days of the week.

The origin of the names of the days of the week in Russian and German.

The origin of the names of the days of the week in Russian.

Let's consider the origin of the names of the days of the week in Russian. First, it’s worth understanding why a week is called a “week.” The fact is that earlier, even before the adoption of Christianity, Sunday was called a week. And it was the first day of the week. However, later Sunday began to be considered the last day ending the week. Why? Let's figure it out.

The word “week” comes from the combination “not to do,” that is, to rest. It’s still wiser to rest after work (remember the Russian proverb “If you’ve done a job, go for a walk!”), so the most “loafing” day became the last. Nowadays, the beginning of the week on Monday is regulated by the International Organization for Standardization.

But at first it was the “week” (the day of the week, which later became “Sunday”) that began the seven-day period. Apparently, before the week (in the modern sense) was called not a “week”, but a “week”. And then they called the week “week” (seven days from week to week - from Sunday to Sunday).

The word "Monday" is derived from "after the week." Monday was the first day after Sunday, which in ancient times was called “week”. The root of the word is Monday. It is formed in a suffixal way (suffix –nik-).

Tuesday – from the word “second”. The second day after the “week” (this Sunday). Note - not the second day of the week, but the second after the week. The root is second, the suffix is nick.

Wednesday. This word also came from Old Church Slavonic (like “week”, “Monday”, “Tuesday”). It has a common root with the words “heart”, “middle”. Please note: Wednesday is the middle of the week only if the week starts on Sunday. This day stands between the first three days of the week and the last. Nowadays, when the week begins on Monday, “Wednesday” does not live up to its name. Why wasn’t Wednesday called “tretnik” (by analogy with “Tuesday”) or “treteynik” (although, according to some sources, it was “tretnik” that Wednesday was called in ancient times)? And remember the names of the fingers. The one in the middle is called the middle finger, not the third or anything else. In ancient times, the middle was given special meaning (it’s not for nothing that “middle” and “heart” are the same root words). Some researchers argue that Wednesday is not the middle of a seven-day week, but a five-day one. Allegedly, at first the week consisted of five days, and then, due to the influence of the Christian church, two additional days were added to it.

The word "Saturday" comes from the Old Church Slavonic language. It was once borrowed from the Greek language (from the Greek Sabbaton). And it came to the Greek language from the Hebrew language (from sabbath - “the seventh day when you need to abstain from work”). Shabbat is how this Hebrew word is pronounced, literally meaning “peace”, “rest”. By the way, the word “Sabbath” has the same roots, so “Saturday” and “Sabbath” are related words. It is also interesting that not only in Russian the name of this day of the week comes from the Hebrew “Sabbath”: in Spanish, Italian, and French, the word for Saturday has the same origin. However, in many other languages. This is explained simply - the spread of the Christian religion influenced the dictionaries of many languages.

Sunday - this word, as already mentioned, replaced the word “week”. It arose, of course, after the adoption of Christianity in Rus'. The word is derived from “resurrect”. Formed in a suffix way (suffix –enij-). This is the day on which, according to the scriptures, Jesus was resurrected.

Origin of the names of the days of the week in German.

The days of the week in European languages are associated with the names of the planets, which are named after Roman gods. In this regard, the days of the week in European languages have a common etymology. However, the origin of the days of the week in German has certain differences. The Germanic tribes glorified, first of all, the German-Scandinavian gods, corresponding in their role to the Roman gods, this fact was manifested in the names of the days of the week.

Montag (Monday) - "day of the moon" refers to the moon goddess. The moon is a symbol of motherhood, the ruler of instincts and emotions.

Dienstag (Tuesday) - this day is associated with the name of the German-Scandinavian god Ziu (Tiu, Tyr, Tyr). In Germanic mythology, Ziu is the one-armed god of military valor, the sonOdin and giantesses, sistersGhimira . Tyr lost his hand when the Aesir decided to chain a huge wolfFenrir magic chain. According to one version, Tyr put his hand into Fenrir's mouth as a sign of the absence of bad intentions. When the wolf could not free himself, he bit off Tyr's hand.

Mittwoch (Wednesday) – this day is not associated with the name of the deity. The word Mittwoch is derived from the words Mitte (middle) and Woche (week) and means, as in Russian, the middle of the week.

Donnerstag (Thursday) - this day of the week owes its name to the German-Scandinavian god of thunder Donar (Donnar). IN Scandinavian mythology the god of thunder and rain, storms and fertility, second in importance after Odin. The red-bearded hero had powerful strength, which he loved to compete with everyone, and an incredible appetite - he ate a bull in one sitting. Thor is the protector of people and gods from giants and monsters.

Freitag (Friday) - the day of the week got its name from the German-Scandinavian goddess of love and fertility Frija (Freya, Frigga). Frigga - inGerman-Scandinavian mythology wife Odin , supreme goddess . She patronizes love, marriage, home, and childbirth. She is a seer who knows the fate of any person, but who does not share this knowledge with anyone.

Samstag (Saturday) - this day is not directly related to the name of the planet and deity, but comes from the Hebrew word Sabbat (Sabbath), as in Russian. But the concept of Sabbatai is based on the combination Stern Saturn (the star of Saturn). Saturn is the god of crops, the patron of agriculture.

Sonntag (Sunday) - "day of the sun" is dedicated to the sun god.

Conclusion.

I did great job, studying information about the origin of the names of the days of the week in Russian and German. I was very interested in doing this. I learned a lot of new things.

To summarize what has been said, it can be argued that, unlike the German language, in the Russian language the names of the days of the week do not in any way go back to the pagan cults of god worship, but are associated with the serial numbers of the day and some religious traditions.

The origin of the names of the days of the week in German is associated with the cult of veneration of the pagan gods who were worshiped in this territory.

However, the origin of the names of Wednesday and Saturday in both languages is the same.

Bibliography

Big Soviet Encyclopedia(TSB).
Dal, V.I. Dictionary of the living Great Russian language. - M.: publishing house “Rus.Yaz.”, 1998.
Myths of the peoples of the world. Encyclopedia in 2 volumes.
Ozhegov S.I., Shvedova N.Yu. Dictionary Russian language. - M., 1997.
Rosenfeld B.A. Planets and days of the week. - M., 1990.
Vasmer, M. Etymological dictionary of the Russian language. - M., 1986.
http://arbuz.uz/u_calendar
http://genon.ru