Months and Days of the Week
Months of the yearI personally find it quite interesting to look at the differences and similarities between languages of common and uncommon origin. Comparing the months, and days of the week is an interesting exercise in word origin or etymology. What is more interesting is the adaptation of month names by other non-related languages (i.e Germanic, Romance and Slavic origin). Finding the common ancestorJanuary is named for Janus, the Roman God of "beginnings and endings". Often portrayed as two heads. February is derived from Februa, the Roman purification festival. March is named for Mars, the Roman god of war. April is derived from the Roman word "aprilus" which means fertility. As April is typically the month in which plant growth begins, it's origin is believed to be in that. May was named for Maia, the Roman god of growth or increase. June is name for the strong one of the marriage, the wife of Jupiter in Roman mythology. July is named after the Roman emperor Julius Caesar. August is named after Octavius Augustus Caesar. September is derived from the Latin septem, meaning seven. October comes from the Latin root octo, meaning eight. November is derived from Latin novem, meaning ninth. December is derived from the Latin decem, meaning ten. The Asian languages simply mark the European calendar numerically as in "one month", "two month", etc... If anyone knows the origin of the Hindi names, please drop me a line.
* Arabic months are transliterations of the European calendar. The Islamic and Syriac calenders are more commonly used which is the main reason for the similarities of the names. ** Check here for more detailed information about the months names, their meanings and alternate expressions in Japanese: Month names in Japan. *** Lot's of Common Chinese Phrases
Days of the WeekIt's interesting in comparison that days of the week are largely derived from Norse gods and godesses (at least in the European representation). Sunday was named after the Sun god. Monday was named after the moon goddess. Tuesday was named after the god Tyr (Norse). Wednesday was named after the god Odin (Norse). Thursday was named after the god Thor (Norse). Friday was named after the goddess Frigga (Norse). Saturday was named after the god Saturn (Roman).
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