The days of the week, in German

While we are discussing days of the week, and since I have decided to deviate from my target language on the weekends, I have chosen to discuss the names of the days of the week in German! While not as logical as Russian, German should be just as easy — or easier — just for its resemblance to English.

Sunday – Sonntag

Bearing a strong audible resemblance to its English counterpart, and also sharing the same meaning, Sonntag literally means “sun day”.

Monday – Montag

Just like its predecessor, Montag also bears a strong audible resemblance, and shared meaning, as it literally means “moon day”.

Tuesday – Dienstag

The verb dienen means “to serve”, so the modern meaning of Dienstag is “day of service”, but it appears to have originally come from the Latin dies Martes, simply changing in pronunciation and spelling over time.

Wednesday – Mittwoch

Forget “hump day”, because the name Mittwoch literally means “mid-week”. It also sounds pretty close to it.

Thursday – Donnerstag

The mythical god known to the Norse as Thor was called Donar by Germanic people, and just as Thursday is “Thor’s day”, Donnerstag is “Donar’s day”.

Friday – Freitag

Another word whose meaning has changed over time, Freitag has the appearance of meaning “free day” (frei means free), but its root is actually “Frige’s day”, after the Anglo-Saxon goddess Frige who appears to equate to Venus.

Saturday – Samstag

Finally, Saturday retains it’s relation to its Latin root, dies Saturni, or “day of Saturn”.