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Days · months · planets

Weekday and month names

Four English weekdays carry the names of Germanic gods, one keeps a Roman god, and several months are Roman gods too. Pick a name to see where it comes from.

Name origins

Days of the week

Months

Names with a solid border come from a god.

Day of the week

Wednesday

Named after Woden (Norse Odin)

Old English wodnesdæg, “Woden's day”, a Germanic translation of Latin dies Mercurii, “day of Mercury”. Woden is the Old English form of the name the Norse wrote Odin.

Latin
dies Mercurii
French
mercredi
Spanish
miércoles
German
Mittwoch

German Mittwoch does not use Odin's name: it means “mid-week”.

Online Etymology Dictionary, “Wednesday”Online Etymology Dictionary, “Woden”

Odin in the god finder

Gods and planets in the week

The seven-day week reached northern Europe with Latin names taken from the seven heavenly bodies the ancients called planets: the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn, which the Latin names in turn translate from Greek. Germanic speakers kept the Sun and Moon, swapped four Roman gods for the gods they matched them with, and left Saturn as he was. So Mars's day became Tiw's day (Tuesday), Mercury's became Woden's (Wednesday), Jupiter's became Thor's (Thursday) and Venus's became Frigg's (Friday). These swaps show which gods early Germanic speakers paired with the Roman ones; they do not make Woden and Mercury the same god.

The origins here follow the Online Etymology Dictionary, and where it hedges, so does this page: April is debated, May is possibly from a Roman goddess Maia, and June is probably from Juno. Months from July on are named for Julius Caesar, Augustus and the numbers of the old Roman year, which began in March.

The days of the week
EnglishNamed afterLatinFrenchSpanishGermanSource
Sundaythe Sundies SolisdimanchedomingoSonntagEtymonline, “Sunday” (Online Etymology Dictionary)
Mondaythe Moondies LunaelundilunesMontagEtymonline, “Monday” (Online Etymology Dictionary)
TuesdayTiw (Norse Týr)dies MartismardimartesDienstagEtymonline, “Tuesday” (Online Etymology Dictionary)Etymonline, “Mardi Gras” (Online Etymology Dictionary)
WednesdayWoden (Norse Odin)dies MercuriimercredimiércolesMittwochEtymonline, “Wednesday” (Online Etymology Dictionary)Etymonline, “Woden” (Online Etymology Dictionary)
ThursdayThor (Old English Thunor)dies IovisjeudijuevesDonnerstagEtymonline, “Thursday” (Online Etymology Dictionary)Etymonline, “Thor” (Online Etymology Dictionary)
FridayFrigg (Old English Frige)dies VenerisvendrediviernesFreitagEtymonline, “Friday” (Online Etymology Dictionary)Etymonline, “Frigg” (Online Etymology Dictionary)
SaturdaySaturndies SaturnisamedisábadoSamstagEtymonline, “Saturday” (Online Etymology Dictionary)Etymonline, “Sabbath” (Online Etymology Dictionary)
The months
EnglishNamed afterLatinFrenchSpanishGermanSource
JanuaryJanusIanuariusjanviereneroJanuarEtymonline, “January” (Online Etymology Dictionary)Fasti 1.63–66 (Ovid, Fasti)
Februaryfebrua, purification ritesFebruariusfévrierfebreroFebruarEtymonline, “February” (Online Etymology Dictionary)
MarchMarsMartiusmarsmarzoMärzEtymonline, “March” (Online Etymology Dictionary)
Apriluncertain; perhaps Aphrodite debatedAprilisavrilabrilAprilEtymonline, “April” (Online Etymology Dictionary)
MayMaia, a Roman goddess (possibly) possiblyMaiusmaimayoMaiEtymonline, “May” (Online Etymology Dictionary)Etymonline, “Maia” (Online Etymology Dictionary)
JuneJuno (probably) probablyIuniusjuinjunioJuniEtymonline, “June” (Online Etymology Dictionary)
JulyJulius CaesarIuliusjuilletjulioJuliEtymonline, “July” (Online Etymology Dictionary)
Augustthe emperor AugustusAugustusaoûtagostoAugustEtymonline, “August” (Online Etymology Dictionary)
Septemberthe number sevenSeptemberseptembreseptiembreSeptemberEtymonline, “September” (Online Etymology Dictionary)
Octoberthe number eightOctoberoctobreoctubreOktoberEtymonline, “October” (Online Etymology Dictionary)
Novemberthe number nineNovembernovembrenoviembreNovemberEtymonline, “November” (Online Etymology Dictionary)
Decemberthe number tenDecemberdécembrediciembreDezemberEtymonline, “December” (Online Etymology Dictionary)

Sources

Word histories are from the Online Etymology Dictionary (Douglas Harper), entry by entry below. Janus's place at the start of the year is from Ovid's Fasti.

Latin texts

Reference works

Questions

Which days of the week are named after Norse gods?

Four, in their Old English forms: Tuesday (Tiw, the Norse Týr), Wednesday (Woden, Odin), Thursday (Thor) and Friday (Frigg). Each translates a Latin day named after a Roman god: Mars, Mercury, Jupiter and Venus.

Why is Saturday still named after Saturn?

The Old English name kept the Roman god from Latin Saturni dies. The Online Etymology Dictionary suggests this may be because the northern gods had no counterpart to Saturn.

Is Friday named after Frigg or Freyja?

The Old English name, frigedæg, is from Frigg. The Online Etymology Dictionary notes that Freyja is closer in character to Venus, and that some early Icelandic writers called the day Freyjudagr, but the English name comes from Frigg.

Is April named after Aphrodite?

Possibly, but it is debated. One suggestion is an Etruscan form Apru borrowed from the Greek Aphrodite; others link it to a word for “following”, since April was the second month of the old Roman year. The Roman idea that it came from aperire, “to open”, is a folk etymology.