# Why didn't the Anglo-Saxons replace Saturday with a Norse god? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 13, 2012, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-anglo-saxons-replace-saturday-with-a-norse-god/625066 "2012-06-13T21:27:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Valkyrie\_Wannabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@Valkyrie\_Wannabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valkyrie_Wannabe)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-anglo-saxons-replace-saturday-with-a-norse-god/625066/1 "2012-06-13T21:27:46Z")
Does anyone know what the deal is with Saturday? Most European languages are based on the Latin days of the week, named for the sun, moon, and five planets, which are themselves named for major Classical gods: Dies Solis (Dominica) = day of the Sun (Lord) = Dimanche/Domingo/Domenica Dies Lunae = day of the Moon = Lundi/Lunes/Lunedi Dies Martis = day of Mars = Mardi/Martes/Martedi Dies Mercurii = day of Mercury = Mercredi/Miercoles/Mercoledi Dies Lovis = day of Jupiter = Jeudi/Jueves/Giovedi Dies Veneris = day of Venus = Vendredi/Viernes/Venerdi Dies Saturni (Sabbati)= day of Saturn (Sabbath) = Samedi/Sabado/Sabato And then the Anglo-Saxons supplanted them with their own pantheon of Norse gods: Sunday- still the Sun’s day Monday- still the Moon’s day Tuesday (day of Tyr or Tiu, god of war) Wednesday (day of Woden or Odin, father of the gods) Thursday (day of Thor, god of thunder and corollary to Jupiter’s thunderbolts) Friday (day of Freya, goddess of love and beauty) But they seem to have left Saturday alone. Was there no suitable corollary to replace the god Saturn with one of their own? Is the name derived from Saetere, an Old English word meaning “seducer or insidiator”, and therefore linked to the trickster god Loki? Or is it related to Loki another way through the Scandinavian Lordag and the Old Norse Laugardagr, which actually translate to “washing day”? Or is there another answer entirely? Please help, because the asymmetry of four Norse gods and one Classical god is really bugging me! ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-anglo-saxons-replace-saturday-with-a-norse-god/625066/2 "2012-06-13T21:46:09Z")
Because the days are named after the planets (thus the inclusion of sun and moon), and it’s the other planets are named after the gods. I don’t know whether we have a recorded planet name for Saturn in Old English, though. ---
**Author:** ![matteo\_moku](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@matteo\_moku](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matteo_moku)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-anglo-saxons-replace-saturday-with-a-norse-god/625066/3 "2012-06-13T21:49:24Z")
Interesting thread…I don’t know the reason,but there’s a very small mistake…The words “Domenica”,“Dimanche” and “Domingo” derive from “dies dominicus”,“day of Lord”…but it’s true that Roman people called “Sunday” “Dies Solis”…the change was done in 11/03/383 by the emperor Theodosius… ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-anglo-saxons-replace-saturday-with-a-norse-god/625066/4 "2012-06-13T21:54:59Z")
I find the question interesting so I had a quick look on Wikipedia, which says: > [@Wikipedia](#): > > Saturday was named no later than the 2nd century for the planet Saturn, which controlled the first hour of that day according to Vettius Valens So according to that, the day is named after the planet rather than the god. However, most other things I’ve read say the day is named after the god. Perhaps that’s an incorrect assumption, or perhaps the names for the gods and the planets are too closely linked to separate. I had a look to see if I could find the Norse word for the planet Saturn but didn’t find much, so I’m not sure if the explanation that it was named after the planet is that relevant. I’d guess they had their own name for it. Perhaps there was no good equivalent of Saturn in Norse mythology (they didn’t seem to have a god of time). ---
**Author:** ![Capt\_Kirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@Capt\_Kirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt_Kirk)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-anglo-saxons-replace-saturday-with-a-norse-god/625066/5 "2012-06-13T23:51:43Z")
Satyr’s Day, anyone? Capt ---
**Author:** ![Capt\_Kirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@Capt\_Kirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt_Kirk)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-anglo-saxons-replace-saturday-with-a-norse-god/625066/6 "2012-06-14T00:18:24Z")
Oops, after a little more research I discovered that the Norse word for Saturday was Bath day, the traditional day that Vikings bathed and English got Saturday as a hold over from Latin, the word I described Satyrstag is actually Saterstag and used in some Germany dialects, but means the same thing. Start with the Wiki entry on days of the week. Sorry I can’t provide a link, stupid BB won’t let me **Capt** ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-anglo-saxons-replace-saturday-with-a-norse-god/625066/7 "2012-06-14T03:26:16Z")
> [@Bozuit](#): > > So according to that, the day is named after the planet rather than the god. However, most other things I’ve read say the day is named after the god. There’s no real difference. Ancient Near Eastern and classical astral sciences identified each of the planets explicitly as “the star of” whatever god was associated with it. The planet wasn’t necessarily **identical** to that god but it essentially **belonged** to that god. A very helpful reference on this subject is [M. Falk’s 1999 article “Astronomical names for the days of the week”](http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1999JRASC..93..122F), which confirms that there is no known Germanic deity that was associated with Saturn in ancient times in the same way that Wotan was associated with Mercury or Thor with Jupiter. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-anglo-saxons-replace-saturday-with-a-norse-god/625066/8 "2012-06-14T05:03:37Z")
> [@Valkyrie\_Wannabe](#): > > Does anyone know what the deal is with Saturday? > > \ > > Dies Saturni (Sabbati)= day of Saturn (Sabbath) = Samedi/Sabado/Sabato > > \ I think it’s wrong to suggest that the name Saturday (after Saturn) has any historical connection with the word Sabbath. Sabbath comes from the Hebrew “[Shabbat](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shabbat)” ( שַׁבָּת ) which has nothing to do with the name of any god or planet. (See also [Biblical Sabbath](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_Sabbath).) It appears to be related with a Hebrew word for “rest” or “repose”. The names Sabado Sabato appear, like Sabbath, to be derived from the Hebrew and don’t look anything like Saturn. (ETA: Both of the Wikipedia pages I just cited include some details of the etymology.) Note that this is the only day of the week in the Hebrew scheme of things that actually has a name. The other days are simply called Yom Rishon (First Day), Yom Sheni (Second Day), up through Sixth Day, but the seventh day has an actual name, Shabbat. ---
**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:** [June 14, 2012, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-anglo-saxons-replace-saturday-with-a-norse-god/625066/9 "2012-06-14T07:22:32Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > There’s no real difference. Ancient Near Eastern and classical astral sciences identified each of the planets explicitly as “the star of” whatever god was associated with it. The planet wasn’t necessarily **identical** to that god but it essentially **belonged** to that god. That’s why an archaic Hebrew term for pagans is “worshipers of stars and zodiacs”. > [@Senegoid](#): > > Note that this is the only day of the week in the Hebrew scheme of things that actually has a name. The other days are simply called Yom Rishon (First Day), Yom Sheni (Second Day), up through Sixth Day, but the seventh day has an actual name, Shabbat. Usually shortened in writing to “Day A”, “Day B” etc. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-anglo-saxons-replace-saturday-with-a-norse-god/625066/10 "2012-06-14T08:27:09Z")
> [@Capt\_Kirk](#): > > Sorry I can’t provide a link, stupid BB won’t let me Yes, it will: Just type [\*\*\*\*url=“[http://www.example.com/](http://www.example.com/)”]Example link or even just paste the URL into the reply box. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-anglo-saxons-replace-saturday-with-a-norse-god/625066/11 "2012-06-14T08:34:45Z")
> [@Valkyrie\_Wannabe](#): > > Friday (day of Freya, goddess of love and beauty) Friday, in English, is actually named after Frigg, not Freya. > [@](#): > > The name Friday comes from the Old English Frīġedæġ, meaning the “day of Frigg” (a Germanic goddess broadly equivalent to Venus). The same holds for Frīatag in Old High German, Freitag in Modern German and Vrijdag in Dutch. > The expected cognate name in Old Norse would be \*friggjar-dagr. However, the name of Friday in Old Norse is frjá-dagr instead, indicating a loan of the weekday names from Low German.[3] The modern Scandinavian form is Fredag in Swedish, Norwegian and Danish, meaning Freja’s day. The distinction between Freja and Frigg in some Germanic mythologies is problematic. > **[Friday](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday)** > > Friday is the day of the week between Thursday and Saturday. In countries that adopt the traditional "Sunday-first" convention, it is the sixth day of the week. In countries adopting the ISO 8601-defined "Monday-first" convention, it is the fifth day of the week. > In most Western countries, Friday is the fifth and final day of the working week. In some other countries, Friday is the first day of the weekend, with Saturday the second. In Iran, Friday is the last day of the weekend, with Saturday ... ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-anglo-saxons-replace-saturday-with-a-norse-god/625066/12 "2012-06-14T12:24:52Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > Friday, in English, is actually named after Frigg, not Freya. Doesn’t your cite imply Freya and Frigg may be the same goddess? > [@](#): > > The distinction between Freja and Frigg in some Germanic mythologies is problematic ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-anglo-saxons-replace-saturday-with-a-norse-god/625066/13 "2012-06-14T12:51:31Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > Doesn’t your cite imply Freya and Frigg may be the same goddess? They may have both been based on the same previous goddess (although there is no direct evidence of this), but they are different (Freya is the daughter of Njorðr, Frigg is the daughter of Fjorgynn, they have different kids, different husbands, different siblings, etc). More importantly to the OP, Friday (in English) is based on the word Frigg, not the word Freya (whereas in some modern Scandinavian languages, that day of the week is based on the word Freya). ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-anglo-saxons-replace-saturday-with-a-norse-god/625066/14 "2012-06-14T13:05:57Z")
> [@Valkyrie\_Wannabe](#): > > Dies Solis (Dominica) = day of the Sun (Lord) = Dimanche/Domingo/Domenica > […] > Dies Saturni (Sabbati)= day of Saturn (Sabbath) = Samedi/Sabado/Sabato > [@matteo\_moku](#): > > Interesting thread…I don’t know the reason,but there’s a very small mistake…The words “Domenica”,“Dimanche” and “Domingo” derive from “dies dominicus”,“day of Lord”…but it’s true that Roman people called “Sunday” “Dies Solis”… > [@Senegoid](#): > > I think it’s wrong to suggest that the name Saturday (after Saturn) has any historical connection with the word Sabbath. Um, guys, I believe that the OP’s parentheticals were _NOT_ meant as translations of the planetary names but as ALTERNATES, i.e. the intended reading of the parentheticals would be (italics for the implicit content): “Dies Solis (\*or, after Christianity, Dies \*Dominica) = day of the Sun (_or, day of the_ Lord) = …” “Dies Saturni (_or, after Christianity, Dies_ Sabati) = day of Saturn (_or, day of the_ Sabbath) = …” But yes the way it was written had me damn confused for a while there as to how did that go. And yes, it’s apparent that the Saxons simply kept the planetary names (with substitutions for associated gods where applicable) while the Romance languages adopted the “chrsitianized” names for the days of the weekend. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-anglo-saxons-replace-saturday-with-a-norse-god/625066/15 "2012-06-14T13:10:44Z")
It should also be mentioned that there are two groups of gods in Norse mythology. Frigg belongs the [Æsir](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86sir) and Freya to the [Vanir](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanir). ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-anglo-saxons-replace-saturday-with-a-norse-god/625066/16 "2012-06-14T14:26:07Z")
> [@Valkyrie\_Wannabe](#): > > Does anyone know what the deal is with Saturday? Most European languages are based on the Latin days of the week, named for the sun, moon, and five planets, which are themselves named for major Classical gods: Not just European. It’s at least “Indo-European.” In Bengali, it’s the same planets: robibar = sun day shombar = moon day mongolbar = Mars day budhbar = Mercury day brihoshpotibar = Jupiter day shukrobar = Venus day shonibar = Saturn day ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-anglo-saxons-replace-saturday-with-a-norse-god/625066/17 "2012-06-14T14:35:07Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > That’s why an archaic Hebrew term for pagans is “worshipers of stars and zodiacs”. Could you share this term, please? ---
**Author:** ![jbaker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/59ef9b/32.png) [@jbaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jbaker)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-anglo-saxons-replace-saturday-with-a-norse-god/625066/18 "2012-06-14T15:38:17Z")
I’ve long wondered about this. I think the short answer is that we don’t really know. The best discussion I’ve seen is on Wikipedia, [Names of the days of the week - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Days_of_the_week#Germanic_languages), which says: “The Germanic peoples adapted the system introduced by the Romans but glossed their indigenous gods over the Roman deities (with the exception of Saturday) in a process known as Interpretatio germanica. The date of the introduction of this system is not known exactly, but it must have happened later than AD 200 but before the introduction of Christianity during the 6th to 7th centuries, i.e. during the final phase or soon after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. This period is later than the Common Germanic stage, but still during the phase of undifferentiated West Germanic. The names of the days of the week in Scandinavian languages were not calqued from Latin directly, but taken from the West Germanic names.” As noted above, the Romans did name the days of the week after the planets, but the distinction between planet and god was not so rigid, so the Germans looked to the godly counterparts (except for Sunday and Monday) when devising their own names. And apparently they didn’t have a counterpart for Saturn, the Roman god of agriculture, even though they were willing to stretch a bit, as the connection between Mercury and Odin shows (the theory is that those two are both psychopomps). Note that we know a lot about the Roman gods from this period, but we really know very little about the Germanic gods. Our knowledge of Germanic mythology is mostly from the past millennium, many centuries after these names were devised. ---
**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:** [June 14, 2012, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-anglo-saxons-replace-saturday-with-a-norse-god/625066/19 "2012-06-14T15:52:20Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > Could you share this term, please? עובדי כוכבים ומזלות “Ovdei kochavim umazalot” Often shortened to עכו"ם (“AKUM”). ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-anglo-saxons-replace-saturday-with-a-norse-god/625066/20 "2012-06-14T16:22:55Z")
> [@jbaker](#): > > as the connection between Mercury and Odin shows (the theory is that those two are both psychopomps). Psychopomps? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-anglo-saxons-replace-saturday-with-a-norse-god/625066.md?page=2)