LL-L "Etymology" 2003.01.04 (03) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
 L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic
               V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: Thomas Byro <thbyro at earthlink.net>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2003.01.03 (03) [E]

Ron

Most of my books are boxed and inacessible, so I am working under severe
handicaps.  However, it is my understanding that Tyr (or Tiw)and Wotan were
sepparate gods.  I recall a story involving the Fenris Wolf, where the Gods
asked the dwarves to fashion a cord that the wolf could not break.  He let
himself be bound with this cord but asked Tyr to put his right hand in his
mouth, so that he could bite off the hand if he could not release his bonds
and the agods failed to do so.  He could not break the cord and Tyr lost his
hand.

Anyway, one of my books suggested that Tyr was once regarded as the chief of
the gods, prior to the ascendancy of Wotan.  Before him, it was the god Ull.
It would appear that Tyr deserves to have tuesday named after him.

Tom Byro

</quote>
http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/moc/moc12.htm

But does this mean that Tuesday and Wednesday are named after the same god?

Mathieu gave the Limburgish names:
> Maondig, Dinsdig, Goonsdig, Dónderdig, Vriedig, Zaoterdig, Zóndig

Compare this with Yiddish (given by me):
> Montik, Dinstik, Mitvokh, Donershtik, Fraytik, Shabes, Zuntik

Note vowel "reduction" of the word for 'day'.  Is this a Rhenish areal
feature?  (Yiddish is said to have originated in medieval Rhenish German.)

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

----------

From: Theo Homan <theohoman at yahoo.com>
Subject: Ethymology

Ron wrote, concerning weekdays, [...deleted]:

Well, I found one source that seems to corroborate
this:

<quote>
One of the interesting phases of Cretan religion was
the worship of the local Zeus. The deity must not be
confused, however, with the so-called Aryan or
Indo-European Zeus of the philologists of a past
generation.
The name Zeus is less ancient than the deities to whom
it was applied. It is derived from the root div,
meaning "bright" or "shining". In Sanskrit  it is
Dyaus, in Latin Diespiter, Divus, Diovis, and Jove, in
Anglo-Saxon Tiw,  and in Norse Tyr; an old Germanic
name of Odin was Divus or Tivi, and his descendants
were the Tivar. The Greeks had not a few varieties of
Zeus.
These included: "Zeus, god of vintage", "Zeus, god of
sailors," "Bald  Zeus", "Dark Zeus" (god of death and
the underworld), "Zeus-Trophonios"
(earth-god), "Zeus of thunder and rain", "Zeus, lord
of flies", "Zeus, god of boundaries", "Zeus S ter", as
well as the "Carian Zeus" and the  "Cretan
Zeus". The chief gods of alien peoples were also
called Zeus or Jupiter. Merodach of Babylon was
"Jupiter Belus" and Amon of Thebes "Jupiter  Amon",and
so on.
</quote>
http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/moc/moc12.htm

But does this mean that Tuesday and Wednesday are
named after the same god?
------------------------------------
Ron,

the author you're quoting is a bit confused, as may
happen to all of us now and then.
Tyr was a god, and so was Odin.
The ethymology of Tyr is something that our
Old-Germanic mums and dads were not aware of, I guess.
But it seems that Odin/Wodan is a god that in the best
freemarket-philosophy has taken over the first place
of good old Tyr {whose ethymology is related to
Zeus/Deus}, and as the new CEO Wodan/Odin kicked Tyr
to a lower place.

But I always have been pondering about this: does this
all mean that Wodansday/Wednesday was the free weekday
2000 years ago?

Best wishes,
Theo Homan

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