of all the names.. why name a main character after a day of the week? this is been perpetually bothersome since i re-read AG yesterday afternoon.

i mean, i get the connections between most of the other gods and their modern names, but this one has me stumped. how do you get Wednesday?

The word Wednesday comes from the Norse god Odin, just as Thursday comes from Thor.

gotcha.. thanks much!

It would also probably help to know that the Norse spelling for Odin is Woden. (Makes the link to Wensday or Woden's Day, a little easier to see).

"His madness keeps him sane, doesn't it?"
"Do you think he is the only one?"

A little help from a fellow Swede.

Monday = MÃ¥ndag = Day of the Moon
Tuesday = Tisdag = Day of Tyr (or however you spell it in English. The god who sacrificed his hand to the Fenris wolf)
Wednesday = Onsdag = Day of Odin
Thursday = Torsdag = Day of Thor
Friday = Fredag = Day of Frey

I don't really know about the weekend days, though, but those I know for sure

The Romans came up with the 7-day week and naming it after deities. After they left and the Saxons moved in, they co-opted the practice.

In Saxon:

Monday = Mani's Day/Moon's Day
Tuesday = Tiw's Day (Tiw is roughly equivalent to Tyr)
Wednesday = Woden's Day (Woden is roughly equivalent to Odin)
Thursday = Thunnor's Day (Thunnor is roughly equivalent to Thor)
Friday = Freo's Day (Freo/Frig is roughly equivalent to Frigga and to Freya; Frigga came to the Norse sort of via the Baltic at a later date)
Satuday = Saeter's Day (Italian agricultural deity for whom there was no real equivalent; Thunnor and Sif were most closely related to farming)
Sunday = Sunna's Day/Sun's Day

Where I've said "roughly equivalent to", it's because there were strong regional variations all over the place, but the Saxons apparently didn't see their deities in quite the way the Norse did even though they were closely related. Like I share my genes with my sister and we were brought up together, but we're quite different people though we share characteristics and certain beliefs and attitudes.

I always thought Saturday came from Saturn...

Saeter is the Saxonised version of Saturn; apparently, it was more to do with Saturn's agricultural function than anything else. I reread what I'd written on Saturday and realised it wasn't put well at all.

The Norwegian Sauterday is Lordag (the o is the Scandinavian special letter pronounced oe)

This is a lead of Lauvdag wich seperates into bathing and day.

So, Sauterday was the day you took your weekly bath.

quote:

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Originally posted by Boudicca:
Saeter is the Saxonised version of Saturn; apparently, it was more to do with Saturn's agricultural function than anything else. I reread what I'd written on Saturday and realised it wasn't put well at all.

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Quite right. This is one reason Chistmas, which was originally a Roman celebration of Saturn, melded with Christianity.

All these names and connections shouldn't be so surprising. They all started from one place, became divergent over time, then rejoined as the world became more homogenized (aka, the West took over everything).

I always thought Christmas was a celebration of the winter solstice (22-24th of Dec usually), the peak of winter and the birth of a new beginning.

That or Mithra's birthday (born 25th of Dec. in a Barn 600BC).

-daniel

I believe the most commonly accepted reason for Christmas being on december 25th is that it was the celebration of the sun god Mithra to the pagans, and the early catholic church was desperately looking for potential converts, so they chose that date in order for the potential converts to be able to party and have a good time instead of simply sitting around while the pagans celebrated. Or something to that effect.

There's tonnes of that creative holy day creation in the catholic church, especially. Lots of fun for people with too much time on their hands, I suppose.

- phil

I never really got that. never made that connection. x.x i allways took it at face value from that quote; "Well, seeing as today is my day, and today is Wednesday, you can call me wednesday." (or something along those lines)

Make the connection Beth, make the connection.

"Does the walker choose the path or the path choose the walker?"

yes, it was a make the connection reference. did you make the connection?

"Knowledge is power. Power is corrupt. Go to school and be evil!"

Yes, yes I did make the connection.

"Does the walker choose the path or the path choose the walker?"

In Old Norse, Odin was known as Óðinn (pronounced something like OATH-in).

To the Germans he was Wotan, to the Ango-Saxons he was Woden. Basically the same god.

[This message was edited by Hallvarth on May 11, 2003 at 06:07 PM.]

quote:

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Originally posted by Crnflk_Grl:
of all the names.. why name a main character after a day of the week? this is been perpetually bothersome since i re-read AG yesterday afternoon.

i mean, i get the connections between most of the other gods and their modern names, but this one has me stumped. how do you get Wednesday?

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I will quote the book.
page 24. "I said, who are you?"
"Let's see. Well, seeing that today certainly is my day-- why don't call me Wednesday? Mister Wednesday. Although given the weather it might as well be Thursday, eh?"

LoL! Until reading this thread I always thought this was just a clever way of giving a hiddin introduction. How wonderful :-).

The earlier Germanic version of the god Odin, the All-father, was named Wotan, so the naming is sort of the completion of a circle.

quote:

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Originally posted by Hallvarth:
In Old Norse, Odin was known as Óðinn (pronounced something like OATH-in).

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Sorry to get a little off topic, but I have to ask: do you know where I could get a listing for the UTF codes for Icelandic/Old Norse dipthongs? I've been desperately looking for a way to use them in a web page I'm constructing. I'm particularly interested in the one that's descended from the rune Thurisaz.