This week we’re piggy backing off a previous post where we discussed the planets, their correspondences to deities, and the days of the week. Some of the days had easier name correspondences in English such as Sunday for the sun and Monday for the moon and Saturday for Saturn, but what about the others? Why don’t we have Marsday or Jupiterday? Well there are reasons for that so let’s dive into how the days of the week got their names in the English language and what deities they’re attributed to.
If you’ve studied any of the Latin based languages you’ll see the linguistic connection to these names. For instance, in Spanish Tuesday is Martes (relating to Mars), Wednesday is Miércoles (Mercury) and so on. So why don’t we see a similar pattern in English? The reason for this is that other than Monday, the days of the week in English are named after different gods.
English is a language based primarily on Germanic and Anglo-Saxon languages. This is why it doesn’t have the beautiful and sexy flows to it that the Latin based romantic languages tend to have. These cultures shaped the regions a lot more than their Greco-Roman neighbors to the south of them, and thus had a big impact linguistically in what would become the most dominant language in the world.
Sunday comes from the goddess Sol, who drove the chariot that guided the sun itself. She rides across the sky chased by the mighty wolf Skoll. The sun itself was from the heat and fires of the realm of Muspellheim, home to the fire jotons (giants).
Monday, given to the moon was steered by the god Mani, the brother of Sol. Some accounts state that he had two children with him, a girl named Bil (waning) and a boy named Hiuki (waxing). Along with steering the moon, Mani was in charge of its waning and waxing. Like Sol, Mani was constantly chased by a wolf named Hati. Depending on the accounts when Skoll and Hati devour Sol and Mani, this will be one of the beginning signs of Ragnarok.
Tuesday is derived from the Norse god Tyr. He was a god of war, bravery, and justice. He sacrificed his right hand in the binding of the great and terrible wolf Fenrir, son of Loki. While his sacrifice to keep the gods safe in this binding may have helped them in the short run, it could also be seen as a detriment to them in the battle of Ragnarok. In some accounts he is the son of Odin and in others the son of the giant Hymir. Tuesday comes from the Saxon word Tiwesdaeg, Tyr’s day. Like Mars, Tyr is a god one can perform rituals under for that masculine energy, or for attacking your enemies.
Wednesday to the Saxons was dedicated to Odin himself, the Allfather. While Tyr was the god of war, Odin was the god of battle, the dead, magick, and a host of other things. Odin gave his right eye for knowledge, and voluntarily hung upside down on the world tree Yggdrasil with a spear in his side for nine days to learn the secrets of the dead and the runes. His control of magic and divination is what matches his Roman counterpart for Wednesday, Mercury, another god of magick. It’s another reason why Wednesday is a good day to perform magick when you’re not sure what day suits your spell best. The name Wednesday originates from the Saxon Wodnesdaeg, Odin’s day.
Next in line we have the Saxon day, Thursdaeg, Thursday, or Thor’s day. Thor was the champion of the everyday farmer. He protected the world of men from the giants. Thor not only controlled thunder and lightning, but he controlled the winds and rains. He was viewed as a god of fertility and abundance for the land. In this respect he is similar for his Thursday counterpart Jupiter, who was likewise seen as a god of abundance and protection. As such he is a god one can appeal to for abundance, especially for your garden, or farm. One can also appeal to him for protection from your enemies. Just like Mars and Jupiter, you can use Tyr as the spear and Thor as the shield.
Finally we come to Friday, or Frigedaeg as it was known in Saxon, named after Frigg/Freyja. Some accounts have these goddesses as the same being, while others have them as separate, but overlapping beings. It has been postulated that they are different aspects of the same person. One being more of the lover, while the other the mother. (Kevin Crossley-Holland, The Norse Myths, pg. xxxi) Frigg/Freyja, like Venus is seen as a goddess of love and fertility, among other things, often paralleling Odin. She was seen as a goddess of war as well as death, with half those in battle going to Odin’s Valhalla and the other half going to her hall, Sessrumnir. Thus, like for Venus, one can invoke the powers of Frigg/Freyja for love, fertility, family, and even things more of the “woman scorned” arena.
For those who have a calling towards the Norse traditions of magick, or to those who don’t feel comfortable using the Roman pantheon, using the days of the week with these gods might make manifesting easier to you. While there are differences between the gods of the Norse and the gods of the Romans, the themes are still there for us to use as we need.
This post is more of a brief summary to connect the English days of the week to the energies they represent, and to their Roman counterparts. Saturday is the only day of the week in the English language with its name rooted to a planet, Saturn.
Hopefully this will have sparked some curiosity in some of you to look into Norse mythology and ways to incorporate these gods into your practices if you haven’t already. Some of you reading this may have heritage from the lands where these legends and myths come from, and as a result may be a great aid for you in your magick. Perhaps in the future I can go into deeper meanings into the deities of the particular pantheon.
If you’re not a practitioner, I hope this article sparked some interest in a new genre of mythology you might be less familiar with and some history into the region. At the very least, hopefully it answered your question of the origin of the days of the week in the English language.
Whatever the case may be, I hope that you enjoyed the information and learned something new. Thank you for reading, and once again, have an enlightening day!
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