Latein-Deutsch-Englisch
Days of the Week - Tage der Woche
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday...
The names for the seven days of the week originally came from the Babylonians (Babylonier) who named them for the sun, the moon and the five planetary gods. (Other cultures have had between five and ten days in a week.) Most of the western Romance languages adopted these terms via Greek and Latin. But the Germanic languages (German and English among them) took on the Teutonic forms. For instance, the Babylonian Marduk, the god of war, was Ares in Greek and Mars in Latin. To the Germanic tribes the god of war was Ziu. So Latin dies marti (Tuesday, "Mars Day") became "mardi" in French, "martes" in Spanish, but ziostag in Old High German, or Dienstag in modern German. English did take on Saturn-Day (Saturday), but German used Germanic forms for the days.
Below are the seven days of the week in their Latin, Germanic and English forms. By the way, the European week begins on Monday, not Sunday, as in North America. (Also see our Date and Time Glossary, which includes the calendar.)
| LATEIN | DEUTSCH | ENGLISCH |
| dies lunae | Montag (Mond-Tag) |
Monday moon day (lunar) |
| dies marti (Mars) |
Dienstag (Zies-Tag) |
Tuesday |
| dies mercuri | Mittwoch (mid-week) |
Wednesday (Wodan's day) |
| dies iovis (Jupiter/Jove) |
Donnerstag (thunder-day) |
Thursday (Thor's day) |
| dies veneris (Venus) |
Freitag (Freya-Tag) |
Friday (Freya's day) |
| dies saturni | Samstag/Sonnabend ("Sunday eve" is used for Saturday in No. Germany) |
Saturday (Saturn day) |
| dies solis | Sonntag (Sonne-Tag) |
Sunday sun day (solar) |
|
Months: Latin-Deutsch-English Latin Loan Words English-German Glossaries |
||
NEXT > Months • 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
Related Links
Latin in German
A related article on taking advantage of Latin-based vocabulary in German and English. From your Guide.
Date and Time Glossary
An annotated English-German glossary of calendar and clock terms.
Lektion 12: German for Beginners
Lesson 12 of our free online German course is about the calendar and appointments.
Latin Loan Words
An annotated glossary with Latin-based vocabulary in German and English.
Days: Latin-Deutsch-English
An annotated glossary comparing day names in the three languages.
Months: Latin-Deutsch-English
An annotated glossary comparing the names of the months in the three languages.
Cities: Latein-Deutsch-Englisch
An annotated glossary comparing city and town names in the three languages.
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