A centuries-antique mystery has crossed my direction once more …
I noted in a current article that there was a dispute in lots of instructional quarters regarding the actual Viking deity being commemorated by way of the name, ‘Friday.’ The bloodless, tough truth is that until someone finds a runic stone that confirms the issue — and that is not probable — best a preponderance of circumstantial evidence is going to carry the day in any such debate.
So, even as others even as away their time taking into account world peace, I’ve lower back to the search for Friday’s notion.
If you will recall, four of the seven days of the week are named after Norse gods:
– Tuesday is for Tyr, the god of truth and war,
– Wednesday is for Odin, the Allfather of Viking gods,
– Thursday is for Thor, the god of thunder,
– Friday, but is cloaked in ambiguity.
I’d constantly heard the day’s call-starting place came from Frigg, Odin’s elder wife — he had multiple — and this is supported by way of the most scholarly of English references, such as the Oxford dictionary. Others say it turned into for both Frey or Freja, who were brother and sister inside the Vanir extended family. Frey become the god of fertility, so it became taken into consideration crucial to preserve him happy; Freja become the goddess of love and splendor, so it did not harm to maintain on her appropriate side, both.
Frigg’s obligations have been to be the goddess of the sky. It become a subtle job, however someone needed to do it.
Turning to our on-line world for resolution, I came about on an first-rate manual in Norse subjects, The Viking Answer Lady. She is so meticulous in her fabric that I felt the possibility of her bringing mild to the difficulty was quite excellent. So, I contacted her. To say she did her research is an underestimation. Here’s her respond to me:
"Since Western Europe all firstly derived from Indo-European tribes, we find that there have been a whole lot of correspondences between the numerous branches — not exact, one-for-one identification, but ideas are truely related. So it’s no actual wonder to discover that the naming and symbolism of the days of the week, and the number of days in every week, is probably quite tons the equal in all of the descendants of the Indo-Europeans.
"You can see the day-call correspondences in different languages that descend from Indo-European:
"Ancient Greek has: hemera selenes (moon day), hemera Areos (Ares’ day), hemera Hermu (Hermes’ day), hemera Dios (Zeus’ day), hemera Aphrodites (Aphrodite’s day), hemera Khronu (Chronos’ day), hemera heliou (solar day)
"Latin: Lunae dies (Moon-day, Monday), Martis dies (Mars-Day, Tuesday), Mercurii dies (Mercury’s day, Wednesday), Jovis dies (Jove’s day, Thursday), Veneris dies (Venus’ day, Friday), Saturni dies (Saturn’s day, Saturday) or as an alternative Christian Sabbatum or Sabbati dies (Sabbath day), Solis dies (Sunday)or instead Christian Dominicus dies (Lord’s day)
"Unsurprisingly, the Romance languages absolutely derive their day names from Latin, besides for Portugese, which numbers the days:
"Italian: lunedi, martedi, mercoledi, giovedi, venerdi, sabato, domenica
"Spanish: lunes, martes, miércoles, jueves, viernes, sábado, domingo
"French: lundi, mardi, mercredi, jeudi, vendredi, samedi, dimanche
"Romanian: luni, marti, miercuri, joi, vineri, sîmbata, duminica
"Portugese: Segunda-Feira (2d day, Monday); Terça-Feira (third day, Tuesday); Quarta-Feira (4th day, Wednesday); Quinta-Feira (fifth day, Thursday); Sexta-Feira (6th day, Friday); Sábado (Sabbath, Saturday); Domingo (Lord’s Day, Sunday)
"The Celtic languages have taken and preserved the Latin names of the times, and additionally borrowed closely from Christian principles:
"Welsh: Dydd Llun (moon/Luna day), Dydd Mawrth (Mars’ day), Dydd Mercher (Mercury’s day), Dydd Iau (Jove’s day), Dydd Gwener (Venus’s day), Dydd Sadwrn (Saturn’s day), Dydd Sul (solar day)
"Gaelic: Di-luain (moon day); Di-máirt (Mars’s day); Di-ciaduinn or Di-ciadaoin (day of the first fast of the week – Friday being the second one fast); Diardaoin (the day between the 2 fasts of Wednesday and Friday); Di-haoine or Dia-aoine (day of the short) Di-sathuirn (Saturn day); Di-dómhnuich (Lord’s day)
"Irish: Dé Luan (moon/Luna day); Dé Mairt (Mars’ day); Dé Céadaoin (day of the first fast of the week); Déardaoin; Dé h-Aoine (the day between the 2 fasts of Wednesday and Friday); Dé Sathairn (Saturn’s day); Dé Domhnaigh (Lord’s day)
"The Germanic languages, but, also are associated. Ares/Mars become equated with Týr as a warrior god. Zeus/Jupiter become equated with Thórr as the god who hurled lightnings. Mercury turned into equated with Óðinn, since both had a role as psychompomps, the one who leads the useless to their afterlife. Aphrodite/Venus become equated with Frigga and Freyja.
"German: Montag (moon day), Dienstag (Týr’s day), Mittwoch (Mid-week), Donnerstag (Donner’s/Thórr’s day), Freitag (Freyja/Frigga’s day), Samstag (derived in the long run from Latin Sabbatum), Sonntag (sun day)
"Dutch: maandag (moon day), dinsdag, woensdag (Woden’s/Óðinn’s day), donderda (Donner’s/Thórr’s day), vrijdag (Freyja/Frigga’s day), zaterdag (Saturn day), zondag (solar day)
"Norwegian and Danish: mandag (moon day), tirsdag (Týr’s day), onsdag (Óðinn’s day), torsdag (Thórr’s day), fredag (Freyja’s/Frigga’s day), lørdag (washing day), søndag (solar day)
"Swedish: måndag (moon day), tisdag (Týr’s day), onsdag (Óðinn’s day), torsdag (Thrr’s day), fredag (Freyja/Frigga’s day), lördag (wash day), söndag (sun day)
"Old English: mondæg or monandæg (moon day); tiwesdæg (Tiw’s day, Týr’s day); wodnesdæg (Wotan’s/Óðinn’s day); thunresdæg (Thórr’s day); frigedæg (Frigga’s/Freya’s day); sæterdæg or sæternesdæg (Saturn’s day); sunnandæg (solar day)
"Middle English: monday, moneday, or monenday (moon day); tiwesday or tewesday (Tiw’s day, Týr’s day); wodnesday, wednesday, or wednesdai (Wotan’s/Óðinn’s day); thursday or thuresday (Thórr’s day); fridai (Frigga’s/Freya’s day); saterday (Saturn’s day); soneday, sonenday, sunday, sunnenday (solar day)
"North Frisian: monnendei (moon-day); Tirsdei (Týr’s-day); Winsdei (Wotan’s/Óðinn’s day); Türsdei (Thórr’s day); Fridei (Frigga’s/Freyja’s day); sennin (solar-nighttime); sennedei (solar day)
"Etymologically, it is not possible to inform for sure whether the ‘Friday’ phrases derive from Frigga or Freyja (at the least so I am advised, I am no longer a philologist or linguistics professional). We can tell by the cognates that the call is from a goddess equated with Venus and Aphrodite.
"We get into in addition troubles in that ‘Freyja’ is derived from roots meaning clearly ‘lady’ while ‘Frigga’ comes from roots associated with ‘loved.’ There had been several pupils who insist that Frigga and Freyja are simply specific titles for the identical goddess.
"None the less, surely ‘Friday’ comes from the name of this type of goddeses, and not from the call of the god Freyr."
Now, it’s the form of studied thoroughness that could reap Master’s ranges. It’s a preponderance of proof that could deliver the day in a court of regulation. Even even though she only eliminated one of the 3 contenders to the name of Friday’s Namesake, the Viking Answer Lady has long past above and past the call of obligation to provide me with the records I asked.
I’m positive glad I did not tell her I become simply seeking to win a bar wager.