# What do the names of the days of the week in Spanish mean?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-names-of-the-days-of-the-week-in-spanish-mean/1011070>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 2, 2024, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-names-of-the-days-of-the-week-in-spanish-mean/1011070 "2024-12-02T16:40:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\
**Post date:** [December 3, 2024, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-names-of-the-days-of-the-week-in-spanish-mean/1011070/21 "2024-12-03T21:56:23Z")

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> [@Chronos](#):
>
> And isn’t “Sabbath”, itself, derived from a word for “Seventh”?

Not really. While “Shabbat” is similar to the Hebrew word for seven, “Sheva”, it actually comes from the Semitic root S-B-T, which means “to halt”, “to rest” or “to be quiet”.

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**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2024, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-names-of-the-days-of-the-week-in-spanish-mean/1011070/22 "2024-12-04T01:08:51Z")

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> [@Schnitte](#):
>
> Portuguese, otherwise often quite similar to Spanish, also has sábado and domingo like Spanish but follows a simple numbering of the days, counting from Sunday: Monday is second-day, Tuesday is third-day etc, all the way through Friday, sixth-day.

To elaborate:

_Sábado_, _Domingo_, _Segunda-feira_, _Terça-feira_, _Quarta-feira_, _Quinta-feira_, _Sexta-feira_

Saturday and Sunday, as mentioned, mirror Spanish.

Monday through Friday have the word _feira_ in their names, which means _market_, such as a farmer’s market. This means the days are really “second-market”, through “sixth-market”

Brazilians often will clip off the “feira” part in conversation. “_Na segunda eu tenho que voltar para trabalho_.” (I have to go back to work on Monday)

> [@Alessan](#):
>
> Incidentally, in Hebrew the days of the week are named after what’s they’re called in the Bible, in Genesis Chapter 1: First Day, Second Day, Third Day, Fourth Day, Fifth Day, Sixth Day, Sabbath.

Hmmm… I wonder if there’s a link!  
We say Sixth Market, you say Sixth Day. Maybe the Portuguese term wandered from its origin a bit? Regardless, a Brazilian hearing “Sixth” will think “Friday”, as will, I suspect, a speaker of Hebrew.

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**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2024, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-names-of-the-days-of-the-week-in-spanish-mean/1011070/23 "2024-12-05T22:06:53Z")

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Irish:  
Monday = Dé Luain (from Latin dies lunae Moon Day)  
Tuesday = Dé Máirt (from Latin dies martis Mars Day)  
Wednesday = Dé Céadaoin = first fast day  
Thursday = Déardaoin = day between the two fasts  
Friday = Dé hAoine = fast day  
Saturday = Dé Sathairn (from Latin dies saturni Saturn Day)  
Sunday = Dé Domhnaigh (from Latin dies dominicus Lord’s Day)

From the above you might conclude that the Irish word for “day” is “Dé”. You would be wrong!

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**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2024, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-names-of-the-days-of-the-week-in-spanish-mean/1011070/24 "2024-12-05T22:12:34Z")

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> [@Tokushizu](#):
>
> Sunday/nichiyobi (日曜日＝太陽/←”taiyo”/”sun”)  
> Monday/getsuyobi (月曜日＝月/←”tsuki”/“moon”)  
> Tuesday/kayobi(火曜日＝火星/←”kasei”/”mars”)  
> Wednesday/suiyobi (水曜日＝水星/←”suisei”/“mercury”)  
> Thursday/mokuyobi(木曜日＝木星/←”mokusei”/jupiter”)  
> Friday/kinyobi (金曜日＝金星/←”kinsei”/“venus”)  
> Saturday/doyobi (土曜日＝土星/←”dosei”/“saturn”)

To add a layer to this explanation, the surface meaning of the words is:  
Sunday/nichiyobi (日曜日＝太陽/←”taiyo”/”sun”) - SUN DAY  
Monday/getsuyobi (月曜日＝月/←”tsuki”/“moon”) - MOON DAY  
Tuesday/kayobi(火曜日＝火星/←”kasei”/”mars”) - FIRE DAY  
Wednesday/suiyobi (水曜日＝水星/←”suisei”/“mercury”) - WATER DAY  
Thursday/mokuyobi(木曜日＝木星/←”mokusei”/jupiter”) - WOOD DAY  
Friday/kinyobi (金曜日＝金星/←”kinsei”/“venus”) - GOLD DAY  
Saturday/doyobi (土曜日＝土星/←”dosei”/“saturn”) - EARTH DAY (earth the substance/element, not Earth the planet)

The connection with the names of Roman gods is therefore at one remove.

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