LL-L "Etymology" 2003.01.03 (03) [E]

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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: jpkrause <jpkrause at weblink2000.net>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2003.01.02 (04) [E]

> From: Klaus-Werner Kahl <kwkahl at bnet-ibb.de>
> Subject: Expressions
>
> Hello to all,
>
> I try to find out the meaning of the names of the week-days. As you see
> there are very similar words for some week-days but some are very
different.
>
> English - Low German - High German = expression
> Monday - Maondag - Montag = day of the moon
> Tuesday - Dingsdag - Dienstag = ?
> Wednesdy - Gunsdag, or Medweakj - Mittwoch = ?
> Thursday - Dunnerdag - Donnerstag = day of the god Donar
> Friday - Fridag - Freitag = day to goddes Freia or Freyia
> Saturday - Saoterdag - Samstag = ? May have been influenced by Latin
Religion meaning day of Saturn.  Some dialects of Low German call this
Sinowent.
> Sunday - Sundag - Sonntag = day of the sun
Jim Krause

----------

From: Theo Homan <theohoman at yahoo.com>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2003.01.02 (04) [E]

REFERRING TO:

> From: Klaus-Werner Kahl <kwkahl at bnet-ibb.de>
> Subject: Expressions
>
> Hello to all,
>
> I try to find out the meaning of the names of the
> week-days. As you see
> there are very similar words for some week-days but
> some are very different.
>
> English - Low German - High German = expression
> Monday - Maondag - Montag = day of the moon
> Tuesday - Dingsdag - Dienstag = ?
> Wednesdy - Gunsdag - Mittwoch = ?
> Thursday - Dunnerdag - Donnerstag = day of the god
> Donar
> Friday - Fridag - Freitag = day to goddes Freia or
> Freyia
> Saturday - Saoterdag - Samstag = ?
> Sunday - Sundag - Sonntag = day of the sun

> ----------
>
> From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Etymology
>
> Happy New Year, Klaus-Werner, Lowlanders!
>
> First of all, here are some more equivalents:
>
> English: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,
> Friday, Saturday, Sunday
> Afrikaans: Maandag, Dinsdag, Woensdag, Donderdag,
> Vrydag, Saterdag, Sondag
> Dutch: Maandag, Dinsdag, Woensdag, Donderdag,
> Vrijdag, Zaterdag, Zondag
> Westph. LS: Maondag, Dingsdag, Gunsdag, Dunnerdag,
> Fridag, Saoterdag, Sundag
> Northern LS: Maandag, Dingsdag, Middeweken,
> Dunner(s)dag, Fredag/Fridag,
>    Sünnavend, Sünndag
> German: Montag, Dienstag, Mittwoch, Donnerstag,
> Freitag, Samstag/Sonnabend,
>    Sonntag
> Yiddish: Montik, Dinstik, Mitvokh, Donershtik,
> Fraytik, Shabes, Zuntik
>
> Middeweken, Mittwoch, Mitvokh: "middle week"
> Shabes (< Hebrew _shabath_): "Sabbath"
>
> Monday < Mônandæg "Moon Day"
> Tuesday < Tîwesdæg "Tiu's Day"
> Wednesday < Wôdnesdæg "Wotan's/Odin's Day"
> Thursday < Đunresdæg "Thor's/Thunder's Day"
> Friday < Frîgedæg "Freya Day"
> Saturday < Sæternesdæg "Saturn's Day"
> Sunday < Sûnnandæg "Sun Day
>
> Regards,
> Reinhard/Ron
--------------------------------

Well, concerning weekdays many a person could say more
interesting things than I could.
Just one thing: the saturday. Roman influence made
"us" change a 6-day-period into a 7-day-period; so in
the lowlands-ll this day got a latin name; and in the
north-germanic lgs eg. they called this day
"washing-day", which name is also not in line with the
other weekdays-naming.

and of course: Best Wishes,
Theo Homan

----------

From: ntl <shoogly at ntlworld.com>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2003.01.02 (04) [E]

I am lead to believe ( and having lived in Iceland and having some
acquaintance with Icelandic - though the names of the days there were
changed to the more banal words due to the Lutheran church ), that several
of the names have origins in old in the old Norse pagan religion and refers
to deities in it.
Looking at my Oxford English dictionary of guidance - it says;

Tuesday: Old English ( O.E ) - "Tiw's day" ( Tiw - a God )
Wednesday: O.E Woednesdaeg - "Woden's / Oden's day"
Thursday: Oxford English Dict says: Thunressdag "day of Thunder" - but I was
always lead to believe this meant "Thor's day" - but as Thor was god of
thunder -then they aren't exclusive explanations
Friday: O.E Frigedaeg "Freya's day" ( Freya Norse Goddess of love -and only
female in Norse pantheon - has personal attachment to me as I lived in
Freyagata in Reykjavik ;-)  )

These are the ones of Norse origin.

Chris Ferguson

----------

From: Mathieu. van Woerkom <Mathieu.vanWoerkom at student.kun.nl>
Subject: Etymology

Klaus-Werner Kahl asked:

> I try to find out the meaning of the names of the week-days. As you see
> there are very similar words for some week-days but some are very
> different.

English:
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday

For Limburgish it is:
Maondig, Dinsdig, Goonsdig, Dónderdig, Vriedig, Zaoterdig, Zóndig

regards,
Mathieu
-------------------------
http://streektaal.cjb.net

----------

From: R. F. Hahn <admin at lowlands-l.net>
Subject: Etymology

I wrote:
> Tuesday < Tîwesdæg "Tiu's Day"

Chris wrote:
> Tuesday: Old English ( O.E ) - "Tiw's day" ( Tiw - a God )

Am I correct in assuming that the name of this particular god is related to
Latin _Deus_ "God", _dius_ ~ _diuus_ ~ _divus_ 'god' > _divinus_ 'godly' (>
French _divine_ > English "divine," etc.), Latin _dies_ 'day', 'bright'.

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 Soter", 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?

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

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