Where did the names of the days of the week come from? Detailed answer

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Where did the names of the days of the week come from? Detailed answer

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Where did the names of days of the week come from?

In ancient times, there was a time when the days of the week did not have their own names! The reason is very simple. Man has not yet come up with a week.

In that era, time was only divided into months, so there were too many days to assign a name to each of them. But with the construction of cities, people needed a separate day for trade, a market day. Sometimes such days were held every tenth day of the month, sometimes every seventh or every fifth. In Babylon it was every seventh day. On this day, no one worked, people met for trade and for religious ceremonies.

The Jews adopted this example, only setting aside every seventh day for religious purposes. This is how the week appeared - the days between the market, or market days. The Jews gave a name to each day, in other words, it was its serial number after Saturday - the day preceding the market day.

The Egyptians, who adopted the system of weeks, named the days of the week after the five planets, the Sun and the Moon. In ancient Rome, the Egyptian names of the days of the week were also used: the day of the Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn.

We have adopted a mixed form of the names of the days of the week: from Monday to Friday - serial numbers of days, Saturday and Sunday - these names are of religious origin.

By the way, when we say "day", we consider that this is the period of time between sunrise and sunset. In ancient Rome, the day lasted from midnight to midnight, and today many countries use this method.

Author: Likum A.

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