this post was submitted on 29 Jul 2023
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92
Where in history is the reference point of modern week day countdown? [SOLVED] (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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I mean, if today i.e. is Sunday then someone long time ago should have said "Today will be Sunday" for the first time in a period from today that is multiple of seven. I was assuming that it was Pope Gregory XIII in October 1582, but looks like he is not. I failed in googling and duckduckgoing out the answer, so I ask for Lemmy's collective wisdom!

EDIT: so question is not about the origin of 7-day week and sequence of weekday names, but about the exact reference point (day) of today’s weekday countdown. From when have people stopped adding or ommiting any adjustment 'out-of-week' days (like in Babylon or Rome) and kept counting to seven till today? In other words, there should be a point exactly N x 7 days ago from which the 7-day countdown has not been interrupted. Or at least the earliest known day in history that everyone on Earth agreed upon as a reference point

EDIT 2: Solved by https://lemmy.world/comment/1852458 Thanks everyone!

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (7 children)

I believe most weekday names as we know them in English and many other northern European languages derive from the vikings.

  • Monday, not sure?
  • Tuesday = Tir's day, Tir/Thyra being a woman in the Nordic mythology.
  • Wednesday = Wotan's day, also "onsdag" in Nordic languages, Wotan=Odin.
  • Thursday = Thor's day, also "torsdag" in Nordic languages.
  • Friday = "fredag", from Frey/Freia in the Nordic mythology.
  • Saturday = lørdag, not sure.
  • Sunday = literally the day of the sun.
[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

Monday = Moon day. In Spanish, it's "lunes".

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Well, the question is not about the origin and sequence of weekday names, but about the first day in history of uninterrupted count of 7-day cycles which leads to today’s state of the week. Added this to the post.

[–] Mouselemming 4 points 1 year ago

Saturday is Saturn's Day

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

"Saturday" references to the planet "Saturn".

Here is a video about the origin of the weekday's names in different languages: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gifimOF5a_U

I addition to that, here is a video which explains how the months got their names: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9iOt48bTw4&list=PL5x1QB-VRuDtHCWcuSx0DgJr2mnuNXkSB&index=4 This channel has very interesting videos about the ethymological origins of different things. It's worth watching.

Edit: spelling

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/watch?v=gifimOF5a_U

https://piped.video/watch?v=Y9iOt48bTw4&

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Saturday in nordic languages Lördag/lørdag is simply lögardagen, the day in the week when you took a bath.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I believe the Vikings adapted them from the Romans. The Greeks and Romans also had a day for the Sun and a day for the a Moon. They obviously never changed the Month from their Latin roots. July and August are named after Julius Caesar and Caesar Augustus.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Don't know about Saturday, but "lørdag" comes from the Norse word for "washing day" because the vikings were surprisingly hygienic for their time, and bathed/washed themselves once a week.