Days of the week

The days of the week in the UK come from a mixture of the Roman and the Anglo Saxon language. When the first Anglo Saxons arrived in England they were pagans but were soon converted to Christianity that had begun to be practiced by the Romans shortly before they left England. Many of these pagan traditions and festivals still remain however, often we don't even realise it. The pagan Anglo Saxons believed in many gods and would pray to each one for a different purpose. The days of the week that we still use today are named from those gods which are very similar to the Viking gods.

Tuesday comes from the Anglo Saxon god of battle - Tiw or Tig and was originally Tiwesdaeg

Wednesday comes from the Anglo Saxon God of war - Woden and was originally Wodnesdaeg

Thursday comes from the Anglo Saxon god f thunder Thunor. This is very similar to the Norse Viking god - Thor with his big hammer and was originally Dunresdaeg.

Friday comes from the Anglo Saxon goddess of love - Frigg (certainly not the same terminology we would use for love today - quite the opposite in fact!) Originally it was Frigedaeg, day of the Goddess Friga

Monday, as you can probably see comes from the word Moon. Looking at Latin languages it's the same for them, look at spanish and french - Lunes and Lundi - both from the latin word Lune meaning moon - Jewish sabbath. Story of bloke who was in village pond and refused to be helped out as it was his sabbath and the mayor did the same for him on the sunday -refused to help him out so he drowned. Originally it was Saeternesdaeg named after the Roman God Saturn.

Sunday, as you can probably see comes from the word Sun. Originally it was Sunnandaeg, the day of the Sun. Christian day of rest.