<I>The British Council?s language clinic with ?Dr Danny?</I>

Hello and welcome once again to the English Language Clinic. This week I have been asked «Where do the English names for the days of the week come from?» The days of the week are associated with the sun, the moon and the five planets of our solar system ?visible to the naked eye? (without the use of a magnifying device, such as a telescope). The planets were named after Roman deities, who were later ?replaced?, in ancient Britain, by other gods. Although different groups consider different days to be the ?first? day of the week, I will start with ?Monday?.

?Monday? is named after the ?moon?, from the Latin ?lunae?. Often associated with madness, this ?lunar? connection can be seen in the word ?lunatic?. ?Tuesday? is related to the planet ?Mars?; ?Mars? was the Roman God of war; the later, equivalent God was ?Tiw?. Wednesday is named after the God ?Woden?, who was the Anglo-Saxon version of the Roman God ?Mercury?.

?Thursday? takes its name from the God ?Thor?, who replaced the Roman ?Jupiter?. ?Friday? is traced back to the Norse Goddess ?Frigg?, who was associated with ?Venus? (fear of Friday the thirteenth is known as ?Friggatriskaidekaphobia?). Now the ?weekend?; ?Saturday? is named after ?Saturn? and ?Sunday? is fairly obvious.

If you now look back at the names of the planets and compare them to the French names for the days of the week, I think you will see a more direct relationship. The exception is Sunday, which is called ?the lord?s day? (Latin - Dies Dominica) in many languages.

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