What names do the week days go by in the middle east? Do they differ from country to country?
They’re not terribly exciting. The word for Sunday is the Arabic word for “the first” and they continue like that until Friday, which the “day of gathering.” Saturday picks up again with being “the seventh day.”
Where can I go to find out how different cultures have divided up days into groups?
Example questions would include, are there cultures where the closest thing to a week lasts five days, or eight days, or whatever number you like?
Nothing deep here, I’m just looking for trivia.
-FrL-
From Wikipedia :
The Islamic week is similar to the Jewish week, as was the medieval Christian week, all of which have numbered weekdays in common. The “first day” of the Islamic week corresponds with Sunday of the planetary week. The Islamic and Jewish weekdays begin at sunset, whereas the medieval Christian and planetary weekdays begin at the following midnight.[4] Muslims gather for worship at a mosque at noon on “gathering day”, which corresponds to the sixth day of the Jewish and medieval Christian weeks, and to Friday of the planetary week. (“yaum يوم” means day)
[ol][li]yaum al-ahad يوم الأحد (first day - Sunday) (Urdu, Itwaar اتوار) (Persian: Yek-Shanbeh یکشنبه)[/li][li]yaum al-ithnayn يوم الإثنين (second day - Monday) (Urdu, Pîr پير) (Persian: Do-Shanbeh, دوشنبه)[/li][li]yaum ath-thulaathaa’ يوم الثُّلَاثاء (third day - Tuesday) (Urdu, Mangl منگل) (Persian: Seh-Shanbeh, سه شنبه)[/li][li]yaum al-arbiaaa' يوم الأَرْبِعاء (fourth day - Wednesday) (Urdu, Budh بدھ) (Persian: Chahar-Shanbeh, چهارشنبه)[/li][li]yaum al-khamis يوم الخَمِيس (fifth day - Thursday) (Urdu, Jumahraat جمعرات) (Persian: Panj-Shanbeh, پنجشنبه)[/li][li]yaum al-jumua يوم الجُمُعَة (gathering day - Friday) (Urdu, Jumah جمعہ) (Persian: Jom’eh, جمعه or Adineh آدينه)[/li][li]yaum as-sabt يوم السَّبْت (sabbath day - Saturday) (Urdu, Hafta ہفتہ) (Persian: Shanbeh, شنبه)[/ol][/li]
Frylock , I would start with the Wikipedia article on calendars . It links to articles about days, weeks, months, and years in various cultures in various times.