Saturnday

Ancient cultures everywhere observed seven “wanderers” move against the apparently fixed stars of the night sky: our star the sun, our natural satellite the moon, and the brightest planets Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn. In many languages, these wanderers became the basis for the names of the seven days of the week; for example, in English & French the days are:

Sunday & dimanche
Monday & lundi
Tuesday & mardi
Wednesday & mercredi
Thursday & jeudi
Friday & vendredi
Saturday & samedi

In many languages, the days of the week are named after the classic "planets"

In many languages, the days of the week are named after the classic “planets”

About John F. Lindner

John F. Lindner was born in Sleepy Hollow, New York, and educated at the University of Vermont and Caltech. He is an emeritus professor of physics and astronomy at The College of Wooster and a visiting professor at North Carolina State University. He has enjoyed multiple yearlong sabbaticals at Georgia Tech, University of Portland, University of Hawai'i, and NCSU. His research interests include nonlinear dynamics, celestial mechanics, and neural networks.
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1 Response to Saturnday

  1. Alison Huff says:

    It’s also cool that the English names for the days of the week are Nordic in origin!

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