The concept of a week as we know it today, with seven days, has been in existence for thousands of years and the names of the days have varied across different cultures and civilizations.
- Why are some days named as they are?
- Why are they similar in certain languages?
- And….
- Why are Portuguese days different?
In this article, we’ll explore the history and evolution of the days’ names and learn the them in 8 languages!
So, without further ado, I invite you to join me explore it!
The Origin of the 7 Days of the Week
It is presumed that the Babylonians, an ancient civilization who lived in what is now known as Iraq, were the ones who came up with the 7 days of the week that we know today.
There is evidence that at their time, they observed that it took seven days for the completion of each of the four moon cycles and that timing was congruent with the seven celestial bodies that were visible to their naked eyes:
- the Sun
- the Moon
- Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn,
They determined that it would be beneficial to break down what we call a week today with seven days, each day being named after these celestial bodies.
The Greek And Roman Gods
The ancient Greeks and Romans adopted the Babylonian seven-day week and named the days after their respective planetary gods.
The Greeks called the 7 days of the week after their Gods Helios, Selene, Ares, Hermes, Zeus, Aphrodite, and Cronus.
The Romans named the 7 days after their Gods the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn their god of agriculture. The seven-day week spread throughout the Roman Empire in Late Antiquity. By the 4th century CE, it was widely used.
The Greek and Latin names at that time were as follows:
The days of the week in Christianity, Romance languages and Portuguese
The Roman names for the days of the week are present in romance languages, such as French, Spanish, Italian and Romanian. This was due to the influence of the Roman Catholic Church, which used Latin as its official language.
However, some members of the early Christian Church believed that the names of the days should not be associated with pagan gods and made efforts to eliminate this Greco-Roman origin. They could do that with Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was named by the Hebrew Sabbath, a day set aside for rest and worship and Sunday was named after “dies Dominicus”, the Lord’s.
With Portuguese language, the changes went a bit further…
Portuguese language was the only one of Romance languages to fully replace the names of the week days. This stems from the 6th century. During the 1st Council of Braga in the year 561 AD, Archbishop Martinho de Dume of Braga, Portugal, one of the most important clerics of the High Middle Ages, declared that it was unworthy of good Christians to continue to call the days of the week by pagan Latin names.
He was then the first to adopt the ecclesiastic nomenclature (Feria secunda, Feria tertia, Feria quarta, Feria quinta, Feria sexta, Sabbatum, Dominica Dies). Due to his and his successors influence, Portuguese language assumed these names, which have then evolved to what we know as segunda-feira, terça-feira, quarta-feira, quinta-feira, sexta-feira, sábado e domingo.
What Does “Feira” Means And Why Does The Week Start With “Segunda Feira” And Not “Primeira Feira?
The word feira comes from the ecclesiastic nomenclature “Feria”, which meant “a day of festivity” but there was a very crucial decision regarding the use of feira. I explain it in details and show you an overview of how other Romance languages are similar to each other in my video. Take a look at it:
The Days Of The Week In English
The days of the week in English are also influenced by celestial bodies and mythological figures. However, as English is a language with Germanic Anglo-Saxon roots, the names chosen for some days pay homage to different Norse gods. So, in English, we see a mix of Greek, Roman and Anglo-Saxon influences!
Take a look:
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