Italian cameo bracelet representing the days of the week, corresponding to the planets as Roman gods: Diana as the Moon for Monday, Mars for Tuesday, Mercury for Wednesday, Jupiter for Thursday, Venus for Friday, Saturn for Saturday, and Apollo as the Sun for Sunday. Middle 19th century, Walters Art Museum
For clarity, astronomy is the study of the stars, planets, and the universe with a clear scientific approach. Astrology is the subjective interpretation of the zodiac signs and how they influence our growth, our personalities and our daily lives. In modern times, sciences discounts and discredits the astrological side and focuses on the astronomy of the heavens. But they were one study for millennia before the age of science made them separate disciplines.
There is historical evidence that astronomy was a recognized science as far back as the Babylonian civilization hundreds of years before Christ, but the study of the stars was not limited to one country.
There were similar movements going on in China, India, and Ancient Egypt and all over the Arabian Peninsula. The integration of astronomy and religion is so prevalent that we see it in the Christmas story in which the Magi, Zoroastrian priesthood probably from the equivalent of ancient Syria, followed a star to the newborn Christ child. These astronomers were also astrologers and it was that mixture that leads them to be part of this historic event. It’s also worth looking up “astrotheology”, the theory that much of the biblical content is actually the personification of planetary bodies spun into stories. For example, Jesus at the centre (sun) with 12 disciples (the 12 constellations), and so forth.
The first book on astronomy was written by Ptolemy during the Greek empire. Since that historic publication, the who’s who list of great astronomers charts a path right through the centre of modern science including Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Sir Issac Newton, Jung, Michelangelo, Benjamin Franklin and more recently even Einstein and Stephen Hawkings would join that noble list. It seemed that from the renaissance on to this day, virtually any man or woman of intellect dabbled in astronomy at least somewhat and it has always been considered a sign of the learned to know about the universe and things astronomical.
Astronomy has had an impact on so many areas of our lives that we really don’t recognize. Many words in our language had their roots in astronomy such as…
- Influenza which comes from the Latin root word for influence. This reflects an early belief that the position of the moon and stars may influence health and cause or cure disease.
- Disaster which comes from the Latin for “bad star”.
- Lunatic which has the root word “Luna” in it which is the Latin word for moon. This highlights the long-held belief that is even prevalent today that irrational behaviour and even wild and dangerous things happen during a full moon.
Astronomy and its interrelationship with astrology has also influenced culture, education and religion to a very large extent over the centuries. In the English language, the first two days or our week, Sunday and Monday are a reference to astronomy as their literal interpretations would be “The Day of the Sun” and “The Day of the Moon”.
Summary of the Days of the Week:
- Sunday: Old English Sunnandæg, meaning “sun’s day”. This is a translation of the Latin phrase dies Solis. English, like most of the Germanic languages, preserves the day’s association with the sun. Many other European languages, including all of the Romance languages, have changed its name to the equivalent of “the Lord’s day” (based on Ecclesiastical Latin dies Dominica). In both West Germanic and North Germanic mythology, the Sun is personified as Sunna/Sól.
- Monday: Old English Mōnandæg, meaning “Moon’s day”. This is equivalent to the Latin name dies lunae. In North Germanic mythology, the Moon is personified as Máni.
- Tuesday: Old English Tīwesdæg, meaning “Tiw’s day”. Tiw (Norse Týr) was a one-handed god associated with single combat and pledges in Norse mythology and also attested prominently in wider Germanic paganism. The name of the day is also related to the Latin name dies Martis, “Day of Mars”.
- Wednesday: Old English Wōdnesdæg meaning the day of the Germanic god Woden (known as Óðinn among the North Germanic peoples), and a prominent god of the Anglo-Saxons (and other Germanic peoples) in England until about the seventh century. It is also vaguely related to the Latin counterpart dies Mercurii, “Day of Mercury”. The Icelandic Miðviku, German Mittwoch, Low German Middeweek and Finnish keskiviikko all mean mid-week.
- Thursday: Old English Þūnresdæg, meaning ‘Þunor’s day’. Þunor means thunder or its personification, the Norse god known in Modern English as Thor. Similarly Dutch donderdag, German Donnerstag (‘thunder’s day’), Finnish torstai, and Scandinavian Torsdag (‘Thor’s day’). Thor’s day corresponds to Latin dies Iovis, “day of Jupiter”.
- Friday: Old English Frīgedæg, meaning the day of the Anglo-Saxon goddess Fríge. The Norse name for the planet Venus was Friggjarstjarna, ‘Frigg’s star’. It is based on the Latin dies Veneris, “Day of Venus”.
- Saturday: named after the Roman god Saturn associated with the Titan Cronus, father of Zeus and many Olympians. Its original Anglo-Saxon rendering was Sæturnesdæg. In Latin, it was dies Saturni, “Day of Saturn”. The Scandinavian Lørdag/Lördag deviates significantly as it has no reference to either the Norse or the Roman pantheon; it derives from old Norse laugardagr, literally “washing-day”. The German Sonnabend (mainly used in northern and eastern Germany) and the Low German words Sünnavend mean “Sunday Eve”, the German word Samstag (mainly used in southern and western Germany) derives from the name for Shabbat.