# What's with the spelling of 'Wednesday'? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 25, 2003, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-spelling-of-wednesday/190788 "2003-07-25T02:51:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2003, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-spelling-of-wednesday/190788/21 "2003-07-25T19:38:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Shoeless \* > \*\*So why are our days named after Norse gods, and our months are named for Roman gods/emperors? And what did Romans use for day-names, if anything? \*\* Roman Day Names _deis solis_ (sun) _deis lunis_ (moon) _deis Martis_ (Mars) _deis Mercurii_ (Mercury) _deis Jovis_ (Jupiter) _deis Veneris_ (Venus) _deis Saturni_ (Saturn) Now, the really weird thing is that the majority of Romance languages have replaced “Sun’s Day” with “Lord’s Day” (_Domingo_, for example, in Spanish) and replaced “Saturn’s Day” with “Sabbath” (_el Sábádo_ in Spanish). However, many languages that were not descended from Latin retain “Sun’s Day” and “Moon’s Day”. ---
**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2003, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-spelling-of-wednesday/190788/22 "2003-07-25T19:41:10Z")
For some strange reason, a zillion line returns mysteriously appeared in my last post. Can they be deleted? ---
**Author:** ![lurker\_anonymous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9fc348/32.png) [@lurker\_anonymous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lurker_anonymous)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2003, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-spelling-of-wednesday/190788/23 "2003-07-26T02:18:58Z")
_hampsters_ ---
**Author:** ![Bandanaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ab097/32.png) [@Bandanaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bandanaman)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2003, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-spelling-of-wednesday/190788/24 "2003-07-26T02:28:21Z")
I pronounce it “Humpday” ---
**Author:** ![Moo\_the\_Magic\_Cow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@Moo\_the\_Magic\_Cow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moo_the_Magic_Cow)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2003, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-spelling-of-wednesday/190788/25 "2003-07-26T10:59:22Z")
The Old English wodnesdæg’s pronunciation is the one we use. Unfortunately, its spelling came with it. How do I know? [I asked before.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=144716&highlight=wednesday) ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2003, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-spelling-of-wednesday/190788/26 "2003-07-26T12:52:54Z")
According to writer Juliet Lowell in _Dear Folks,_ some kid wrote to relatives that he had won a spelling bee. He closed with “Aren’t you proud of me? We will have another spelling bee next Wededay.” 😃 In German _(Mittwoch)_ and Russian _(sreda),_ the word means “center” or “mid-week.” Russian abandoned pagan day names altogether; the other days of the week are forms of ordinal numbers; Saturday, Sunday, and Monday are Sabbath _(subbota),_ Lord’s Day _(voskresienie),_ and Resurrection _(poniedelnik)._ ---
**Author:** ![kuraijo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ea666f/32.png) [@kuraijo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kuraijo)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2003, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-spelling-of-wednesday/190788/27 "2003-07-26T13:06:03Z")
i dunno. me and my folks, we pronouce it “wenesday”, but when we speak fast it comes out as “wensday” ---
**Author:** ![regnad\_kcin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@regnad\_kcin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/regnad_kcin)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2003, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-spelling-of-wednesday/190788/28 "2003-07-26T17:36:26Z")
There is an interesting relationship between planets/gods and elements and days of the week. You dont see it so much in English day names, but you do in a lot of other languages. The moon, for example, is associated with Monday in langauges as geographically separated as Japanese and Spanish. Or Tuesday, which in Spanish is Martes (Mars, god of fire) and in Japanese is written with the same character as fire. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-spelling-of-wednesday/190788.md?page=1)