Wednesday
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Wednes·day
(wĕnz′dē, -dā′)n. Abbr. Wed. or W
The day of the week that comes after Tuesday and before Thursday.
[Middle English, from Old English Wōdnesdæg, Woden's day : Wōdnes, genitive of Wōden, Woden; see wet- in Indo-European roots + dæg, day; see day.]
Wednes′days adv.
Word History: Days and years are natural divisions of time based on the astronomical relation of 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 ad 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: Diēs Sōlis, "Sun's Day"; Diēs Lūnae, "Moon's Day"; Diēs Martis, "Mars's Day"; Diēs Mercuriī, "Mercury's Day"; Diēs Jovis, "Jove's Day" or "Jupiter's Day"; Diēs Veneris, "Venus's Day"; and Diēs Saturnī, "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. For example, the Germanic god worshiped as Wōden by the pagan ancestors of the Anglo-Saxons and ódhinn by the Norse (and usually known as Odin in Modern English) was associated with the god Mercury from the Greco-Roman tradition. Both Odin and Mercury were associated with magic, and both oversaw the transfer of souls to the afterworld. Odin inspired poets and was credited with discovering the runes, while Mercury was said to have invented language and writing. Similar correspondences motivated the identification of other Germanic gods with members of the Greco-Roman pantheon. Therefore in Old English we have the following names (with their Modern English developments): Sunnandæg, Sunday; Mōnandæg, Monday; Tīwesæg, Tuesday (Tiu, like Mars, was a god of war); Wōdnesdæg, Wednesday; Thunresdæg, Thursday (Thunor in Old English or Thor in Old Norse, like Jupiter, was lord of the sky; Old Norse Thōrsdagr influenced the English form); Frīgedæg, Friday (Frigg, like Venus, was the goddess of love); and Sæternesdæg, Saturday.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Wednesday
(ˈwɛnzdɪ; -deɪ)n
the fourth day of the week; third day of the working week
[Old English Wōdnes dæg Woden's day, translation of Latin mercurii dies Mercury's day; related to Old Frisian wōnsdei, Middle Dutch wōdensdach (Dutch woensdag)]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
Wednes•day
(ˈwɛnz deɪ, -di)n.
the fourth day of the week, following Tuesday.
[before 950; Middle English Wednesdai, Old English *Wēdnesdæg, mutated variant of Wōdnesdæg Woden's day; c. Dutch Woensdag, Dan onsdag; translation of Latin Mercuriī diēs day of Mercury]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
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| Noun | 1. |  Wednesday - the fourth day of the week; the third working dayweekday - any day except Sunday (and sometimes except Saturday) |
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations
الَأرْبِعَاءيوم الأرْبَعاء
сряда
středa
onsdag
merkredo
kolmapäev
keskiviikko
srijeda
szerda
miðvikudagurmiîvikudagur
水曜日
수요일
dies Mercurii
trečiadienis
trešdiena
miercuri
streda
sreda
onsdag
วันพุธ
середа
thứ tư
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005
Wednesday
[ˈwɛnzdeɪ ˈwɛnzdi] n → mercredi mon Wednesday → mercredi
on Wednesdays → le mercredi
every Wednesday → tous les mercredis
last Wednesday → mercredi dernier
next Wednesday → mercredi prochain
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
Wednesday
(ˈwenzdi) noun the fourth day of the week, the day following Tuesday.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.
wednesday
→ الَأرْبِعَاء středa onsdag Mittwoch Τετάρτη miércoles keskiviikko mercredi srijeda mercoledì 水曜日 수요일 woensdag onsdag środa quarta-feira среда onsdag วันพุธ Çarşamba thứ Tư 星期三Multilingual Translator © HarperCollins Publishers 2009
Collins Multilingual Translator © HarperCollins Publishers 2009