While sitting in class the other day, my mind started to drift towards movies that I am excited to see. The adaptation of Thor is coming out very soon (which I am very excited for), so I thought a lot about that. Somehow, I remembered something I heard in high school-- that we get the name for Thursday from Thor (So, Thorsday), and Wednesday comes from Odin.
I decided to look more into this to make sure I was remembering correctly as well as learn the meanings of the other days of the week.
Sunday is just as it sounds, "Sun" day. The name comes from Latin "dies solis," meaning "sun's day," which is apparently a pagan roman holiday.
Monday is very similar, instead it means "moon day." This day is sacred to the goddess of the moon.
The rest of the days of the week start to get into what I was referring to earlier with the Norse gods. Tuesday is for the Norse god "Tyr."
Wednesday, like I said, is for Odin (or Woden). Thursday, like I previously stated, honors the Norse god of thunder, Thor.
Friday is also dedicated to a Norse god-- Freya. Freya is the goddess of love, beauty, and procreation. However, she is oftentimes confused with Frigga, the wife of Odin.
Saturday honors Saturn, the roman god of agriculture.
The Greeks used two days for the sun and moon, and the rest of the days were dedicated to some of their gods. These gods were Ares, Hermes, Zeus, Aphrodite, and Cronus. The Romans did the same thing with their equivalents (Mars, Mercury, Jove or Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn).
It would seem that Thursday is a day of lightning. Obviously we have Thor, and the Greeks and Romans also dedicated this day of the week to their gods of lightning-- Zeus and Jupiter/Jove.
Similarly, Tuesday is dedicated to various gods of war, and Wednesday pays tribute to different gods of commerce, cunning, and theft (and Odin, who is the chief Anglo-Saxon god). Friday seems to be a day of love. Maybe this is why we all love Fridays so much (it couldn't be the fact that Friday means the weekend)!
Sources: http://www.crowl.org/lawrence/time/days.html#seven
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