 | This article possibly contains original research. (March 2021) |
Wednesday is the day of the week between Tuesday and Thursday. According to international standard ISO 8601, it is the third day of the week. In countries which have Friday as their holiday, Wednesday is the fifth day of the week. In countries which use the Sunday-first convention, and in both the Islamic and Jewish calendars, Wednesday is the fourth day of the week.
In English, the name is derived from Old English Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). and Middle English Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value)., 'day of Woden', reflecting the religion practiced by the Anglo-Saxons, the English equivalent to the Norse god Odin. In many Romance languages, such as the French Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value)., Spanish Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). or Italian Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value)., the day's name is a calque of Latin Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). 'day of Mercury'.
Wednesday is in the middle of the common Western five-day workweek that starts on Monday and finishes on Friday.
Etymology
- See Names of the days of the week for more on naming conventions.
The name Wednesday continues Middle English Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value).. Old English still had Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value)., which would be continued as *Wodnesday (but Old Frisian has an attested Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value).). By the early 13th century, the i-mutated form was introduced unetymologically.[clarification needed]
The name is a calque of the Latin Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). 'day of Mercury', reflecting the fact that the Germanic god Woden (Wodanaz or Odin) during the Roman era was interpreted as "Germanic Mercury".
The Latin name dates to the late 2nd or early 3rd century. It is a calque of Greek Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). (heméra Hérmou), a term first attested, together with the system of naming the seven weekdays after the seven classical planets, in the Anthologiarum by Vettius Valens (c. AD 170).
The Latin name is reflected directly in the weekday name in most modern Romance languages: Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). (Sardinian), Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). (French), Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). (Italian), Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). (Spanish), Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). (Romanian), Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). (Catalan), Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). or Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). (Corsican), Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). (Venetian). In Welsh it is Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value)., meaning 'Mercury's Day'.
The Dutch name for the day, Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value)., has the same etymology as English Wednesday; it comes from Middle Dutch Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value)., Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). ('Wodan's day').
The German name for the day, Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). (literally: 'mid-week'), replaced the former name Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). ('Wodan's day') in the 10th century. (Similarly, the Yiddish word for Wednesday is Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). (mitvokh), meaning and sounding a lot like the German word it came from.)
Most Slavic languages follow this pattern and use derivations of 'the middle' (Belarusian Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). serada, Bulgarian Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). sryada, Croatian Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value)., Czech Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value)., Macedonian Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). sreda, Polish Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value)., Russian Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). sredá, Serbian Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). sreda or Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). srijeda, Slovak Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value)., Slovene Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value)., Ukrainian Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). sereda). The Finnish name is Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). ('middle of the week'), as is the Icelandic name: Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value)., and the Faroese name: Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). ('mid-week day'). Some dialects of Faroese have Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value)., though, which shares etymology with Wednesday. Danish, Norwegian, Swedish Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value)., (Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). meaning Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). 'Odin's day').
In Japanese, the word for Wednesday is Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). meaning 'water day' and is associated with Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). (suisei): Mercury (the planet), literally meaning 'water star'. Similarly, in Korean the word for Wednesday is Template:Korean, also meaning 'water day'.
In most of the languages of India, the word for Wednesday is Budhavāra — vāra meaning 'day' and Budha being the planet Mercury.
In Armenian (Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). chorekshabti), Georgian (Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). otkhshabati), Turkish (Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value).), and Tajik (chorshanbiyev) languages the word literally means 'four (days) from Saturday' originating from Persian (Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value).).
Portuguese uses the word Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value)., meaning 'fourth day', while in Greek the word is Tetarti (Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value).) meaning simply 'fourth'. Similarly, Arabic Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). means 'fourth', Hebrew Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). means 'fourth', and Persian Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). means 'fourth day'. Yet the name for the day in Estonian Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value)., Lithuanian Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value)., and Latvian Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). means 'third day' while in Mandarin Chinese Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). (xīngqīsān), means 'day three', as Sunday is unnumbered.
Religious observances
The Creation narrative in the Hebrew Bible places the creation of the Sun and Moon on "the fourth day" of the divine workweek.
Quakers traditionally referred to Wednesday as "Fourth Day" to avoid the pagan associations with the name "Wednesday",[1] or in keeping with the practice of treating each day as equally divine.
The Eastern Orthodox Church observes Wednesday (as well as Friday) as a fast day throughout the year (with the exception of several fast-free periods during the year). Fasting on Wednesday and Fridays entails abstinence from meat or meat products (i.e., four-footed animals), poultry and dairy products. Unless a feast day occurs on a Wednesday, the Orthodox also abstain from fish, from using oil in their cooking and from alcoholic beverages (there is some debate over whether abstention from oil involves all cooking oil or only olive oil). For the Orthodox, Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the year commemorate the betrayal of Jesus (Wednesday) and the Crucifixion of Christ (Friday). There are hymns in the Octoekhos which reflect this liturgically. These include special Theotokia (hymns to the Mother of God) called Stavrotheotokia ('Cross-Theotokia'). The dismissal at the end of services on Wednesday begins with these words: "May Christ our true God, through the power of the precious and life-giving cross...."
In Irish and Scottish Gaelic, the name for Wednesday also refers to fasting, as it is Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). in Irish Gaelic and Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). in Scottish Gaelic, which comes from Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value)., meaning 'first', and Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value)., meaning 'fasting', which combined means 'first day of fasting'.[2]
In American culture many Catholic and Protestant churches schedule study or prayer meetings on Wednesday nights. The sports calendar in many American public schools reflects this, reserving Mondays and Thursdays for girls' games and Tuesdays and Fridays for boys' games while generally avoiding events on Wednesday evening.
In the Catholic devotion of the Holy Rosary, the glorious mysteries are meditated on Wednesday and also Sunday throughout the year.
Wednesday is the day of the week devoted by the Catholic tradition to Saint Joseph.
In Hinduism, Budha is the god of Mercury (planet), Wednesday, and of merchants and merchandise. Krishna, Vithoba, and Ganesha are also worshipped on Wednesday.
Cultural usage
According to the Thai solar calendar, the color given with Wednesday is green.[3]
In the folk rhyme Monday's Child, "Wednesday's child is full of woe". In the rhyme Solomon Grundy, Grundy was "married on Wednesday". In Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day, the disagreeable nature of the weather is attributed to it being "Winds-Day" (a play on Wednesday). In Richard Brautigan's In Watermelon Sugar Wednesday is the day when the sun shines grey.[full citation needed] Wednesday Friday Addams is a member of the fictional family The Addams Family. Her name is derived from the idea that Wednesday's child is full of woe. Additionally, Wednesday sometimes appears as a character's name in literary works. These include Thursday's fictions by Richard James Allen, Wednesday Next from the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde and Neil Gaiman's novel American Gods. In the 1945 John Steinbeck novel Sweet Thursday, the titular day is preceded by "Lousy Wednesday".
Wednesday is sometimes informally referred to as "hump day" in North America, a reference to the fact that Wednesday is the middle day—or "hump"—of a typical work week.[4][5] Lillördag, or "little Saturday", is a Nordic tradition of turning Wednesday evening into a small weekend-like celebration.[6] Humpday is also a name of a 2009 film.
In Poland Wednesday night is often referred by young people as "time of vodka", after song by Bartosz Walaszek "Środowa noc to wódy czas"
Astrology
The astrological sign of the planet Mercury, ☿, represents Wednesday—Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). to the Romans, it had similar names in Latin-derived languages, such as the Italian Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). (Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value). means 'day'), the French Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value)., and the Spanish Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 15: attempt to call field 'length' (a nil value).. In English, this became "Woden's Day", since the Roman god Mercury was identified by Woden in Northern Europe and it is especially aligned by the astrological signs of Gemini and Virgo.
Named days
- Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent in the Western Christian tradition, occurs forty-six days before Easter (forty, not counting Sundays).
- Black Wednesday, the day of a financial crisis in the United Kingdom
- Holy Wednesday, sometimes called Spy Wednesday in allusion to the betrayal of Jesus by Judas Iscariot, is the Wednesday immediately preceding Easter.
- Red Wednesday, the Yezidi festival celebrated in Iraq[7]
References
- ↑ "Guide to Quaker Calendar Names". Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative) Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Retrieved 30 March 2017.
In the 20th Century, many Friends began accepting use of the common date names, feeling that any pagan meaning has been forgotten. The numerical names continue to be used, however, in many documents and more formal situations."
- ↑ "The Days of the Week in Irish". Bitesizeirishgaelic.com. 4 August 2012. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
- ↑ "Did you know that in Thailand, there's an auspicous color for every… | Thai Language School Bangkok | Duke Language". dukelanguage.com. 2 January 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
- ↑ "Definition of hump day in English". Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on November 4, 2013. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
- ↑ "Wednesday". The Hans India.
- ↑ Woolsey, Barbara. "Lillördag: Sweden's workers de-stress with 'Little Saturday'". BBC. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
- ↑ Rodziewicz, Artur (19 December 2016). "And the Pearl Became an Egg: The Yezidi Red Wednesday and Its Cosmogonic Background". Iran and the Caucasus. 20 (3–4): 347–367. doi:10.1163/1573384X-20160306.
External links
The dictionary definition of wednesday at Wiktionary
Media related to Lua error in Module:Commons_link at line 63: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). at Wikimedia Commons- Template:Wikiquote-inline
Template:Days of the week Lua error in Module:Authority_control at line 186: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).