Wednes·day (w nz d , -d  )n. Abbr. Wed. or W The fourth day of the week. [Middle English, from Old English W  dnesdæg, Woden's day : Wdnes, genitive sing. of Wden, Woden; see wet-1 in Indo-European roots + dæ, day; see day.]Wednes days adv.Word History: Days and years are natural divisions of time based on the astronomical relation of the earth and the sun, but weeks and the names for the days of the week have their source in astrology. The practice of dividing the year into seven-day units is based on the ancient astrological notion that the seven celestial bodies (the sun, the moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn) influence what happens on earth and that each controls the first hour of the day named for it. This system was brought into Hellenistic Egypt from Mesopotamia, where astrology had been practiced for millennia and where seven had always been a propitious number. The ancient Romans did not divide their calendar into weeks; they named all the days of the month in relation to the ides, calends, and nones. In a.d. 321 Constantine the Great grafted the Hellenistic astrological system onto the Roman calendar, making the first day of the week a day of rest and worship and imposing the following sequence of names on the days: Di s Slis, "Sun's Day"; Dis L nae, "Moon's Day"; Dis Martis, "Mars's Day"; Dis Mercuri , "Mercury's Day"; Dis Jovis, "Jove's Day" or "Jupiter's Day"; Dis Veneris, "Venus's Day"; and Dis Saturn, "Saturn's Day." This new Roman system was adopted with modifications throughout most of western Europe. In the Germanic languages, such as Old English, the names of four of the Roman gods were converted into those of the corresponding Germanic gods. Therefore in Old English we have the following names (with their Modern English developments): Sunnandaeg, Sunday; Mnandaeg, Monday; Twesdaeg, Tuesday (Tiu, like Mars, was a god of war); Wdnesdaeg, Wednesday (Woden, like Mercury, was quick and eloquent); Thunresdaeg, Thursday (Thunor in Old English or Thor in Old Norse, like Jupiter, was lord of the sky; Old Norse Thrsdagr influenced the English form); Frgedaeg, Friday (Frigg, like Venus, was the goddess of love); and Saeternesdaeg, Saturday. |
Wednesday
Noun
the fourth day of the week [Old English Wōdnes dæg Woden's day]
ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Wednesday - the fourth day of the week; the third working day Translations
n Wednesday [ˈwenzdi]
the fourth day of the week, the day following Tuesday. Woensdag يوم الأرْبَعاء сряда středa onsdag der Mittwoch Τετάρτη miércoles kolmapäev چهارشنبه keskiviikko mercredi יוֹם רְבִיעִי बुधवार srijeda szerda Rabu miðvikudagur mercoledì 水曜日 수요일 trečiadienis trešdiena Rabu woensdag onsdag środa quarta-feira miercuri среда streda sreda sreda onsdag วันพุธ çarşamba 星期三 середа ہفتے کا چوتھا دن thứ Tư 星期三
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