Sabbath: Saturday or Sunday?

I don't know about that, but I do know that in many languages, the word for "Saturday" literally means "Sabbath Day". The word for "Wednesday" literally means "middle day [of the week]".

Perhaps Sunday became misappropriated in Christian religions as the Sabbath day because Sunday was "The Lord's Day", a weekly memorial of Christ's resurrection, supposed to have occurred on a Sunday (thus why Easter is always on Sunday)?

Of course, Jews know that Saturday is the Sabbath. Muslims know Friday is the Sabbath (thank you Gato_Solo). It seems that only most Christians (excluding the Seventh Day Adventists, Seventh Day Baptists, and a few others) are confused. One thing is clear, though: Christians originally considered Saturday to be the Sabbath.
 
I don't know about that, but I do know that in many languages, the word for "Saturday" literally means "Sabbath Day". The word for "Wednesday" literally means "middle day [of the week]".

Ummm...I believe thats wrong. Wednesday is a bastardization of "Odin's" day and Thursday comes from "Thor", both from the Norse mythos...

jjr said:
Perhaps Sunday became misappropriated in Christian religions as the Sabbath day because Sunday was "The Lord's Day", a weekly memorial of Christ's resurrection, supposed to have occurred on a Sunday (thus why Easter is always on Sunday)?


Of course, Jews know that Saturday is the Sabbath. Muslims know Friday is the Sabbath (thank you Gato_Solo). It seems that only most Christians (excluding the Seventh Day Adventists, Seventh Day Baptists, and a few others) are confused. One thing is clear, though: Christians originally considered Saturday to be the Sabbath.
 
Yep, gato has it. From wiki:

Sunday: The name Sunday comes from the Old English sunnandæg, meaning "Day of the Sun". This is a translation of the Latin phrase Dies Solis. English, like most of the Germanic languages, preserves the original pagan/sun associations of the day. Many other European languages, including all of the Romance languages, have changed its name to the equivalent of "the Lord's day" (based on Ecclesiastical Latin Dies Dominica). Compare Spanish Domingo.

Monday: The name Monday comes from the Old English Mōnandæg, meaning "Day of the Moon". This is likely based off of a translation of the Latin name Dies Lunae (cf. Romance language versions of the name, e.g., French Lundi, Spanish, Lunes).


Tuesday: Tuesday comes from the Old English Tiwesdæg, meaning "Tyr's day." Tyr (in Old English, Tiw, Tew or Tiu) was a god of combat and heroic glory in Germanic paganism. The name of the day is based on Latin Dies Martis, "Day of Mars" (the Roman war god); compare French Mardi and Spanish Martes.

Wednesday: This name comes from the Old English Wodnesdæg meaning the day of the Germanic god Woden (Wodan), more commonly known as Odin, who was the highest god in Norse mythology, and a prominent god of the Anglo-Saxons (and other places) in England until about the seventh century. It is based on Latin Dies Mercurii, "Day of Mercury"; compare French Mercredi and Spanish Miércoles. The connection between Mercury and Odin is more strained than the other syncretic connections. The usual explanation is that both Odin and Mercury were considered psychopomps, or leaders of souls, in their respective mythologies. Also, in Old Norse myth, Odin, like Mercury, is associated with poetic and musical inspiration. In German, the day is referred to as mittwoch (mid week).

Thursday: The name Thursday comes from the Old English Þunresdæg, meaning the day of Þunor, commonly known in Modern English as Thor, the Germanic god of thunder. It is based on the Latin Dies Iovis, "Day of Jupiter"; compare French Jeudi and Spanish Jueves. In the Roman pantheon, Jupiter was the chief god, who seized and maintained his power on the basis of his thunderbolt (Fulmen).

Friday: The name Friday comes from the Old English Frigedæg, meaning the day of Frige, the Germanic goddess of beauty, who is a later incarnation of the Norse goddess Frigg, but also potentially connected to the Goddess Freyja. It is based on the Latin Dies Veneris, "Day of Venus"; compare French Vendredi and Spanish Viernes. Venus was the Roman god of beauty, love and sex.

Saturday: Saturday is the only day of the week to retain its Roman origin in English, named after the Roman god Saturn associated with the Titan Cronos, father of Zeus and many Olympians. In Latin it was Dies Saturni, "Day of Saturn"; compare French Samedi and Spanish Sábado, which come from Sambata Dies (Day of the Sabbath).
 
Ummm...I believe thats wrong. Wednesday is a bastardization of "Odin's" day and Thursday comes from "Thor", both from the Norse mythos...
Yep, gato has it. From wiki:...
Nope, sorry, wrong. Well, yes, technically what both of you are saying is true and correct. However, I apologize for the confusion I inadvertantly caused when I failed to explain that my statement about Wednesday meaning "middle day" was in continued reference to "many [other] languages" as stated in the preceding sentence, and not in reference to English.

Continuing to use Wikipedia as a source of information, one learns that the German, Finnish, Icelandic, Russian, and other languages' word for "Wednesday" does in fact mean "middle" or "fourth" day.
 
Nope, sorry, wrong. Well, yes, technically what both of you are saying is true and correct. However, I apologize for the confusion I inadvertantly caused when I failed to explain that my statement about Wednesday meaning "middle day" was in continued reference to "many [other] languages" as stated in the preceding sentence, and not in reference to English.

Sorry. I believe you missed something important. Since English is derived from the Germanic languages, and the Germanic languages include some of the words and phrases from the Norse languages, one could surmise that the days were, in fact, taken from the names Woden and Thor...it also comes down to what you want to see. If you want to see Woden in Wedn then thats what you will see. If you want to see Midn in Wedn, then thats what you will see.

jjr512 said:
Continuing to use Wikipedia as a source of information, one learns that the German, Finnish, Icelandic, Russian, and other languages' word for "Wednesday" does in fact mean "middle" or "fourth" day.

One more thing...I didn't use Wikipedia as wikipedia is woefully inaccurate as a source document.
 
jjr sed:
The word for "Wednesday" literally means "middle day [of the week]".

how i understand what jjr is trying to say is this: we call our "hump day" Woden's Day, and germans call the same day mittwoch or "midweek", and therefore woden's day = midweek.

hmmm, don't some germans also call saturday Sonnabend (sunday eve?) i don't know how or if that ties in, just thought i'd throw it out there.
 
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