- Mission 2012: My Big Fat Greek Mission
When learning the days of the week, I find it helpful to understand where the names come from. (In Russian, this ended up being super-easy.) In Italian, it’s a little different, but I still think it’s helpful, and it’s also fascinating to learn a little about the Italian language’s Roman roots.
The word domenica comes to us completely unchanged from its original Latin form domenica, meaning “day of God”.
Just as the word “moon” is reflected in the name “Monday”, the Italian word lunedì comes to us from the Latin lunae dies, or “day of the moon.”
The name martedì is derived from the Latin name Martis dies, or “day of Mars.”
The word mercoledì comes from the Latin name Mercurĭi dies, for “day of Mercury.”
By Jove, the name giovedì does come from the Latin Jove dies, or “day of Jove” (aka Jupiter).
The word venerdì is named for the Roman goddess Veneris (aka, Venus), and comes from the Latin term Venĕris dies.
And finally, sabato is derived from the Latin word sabbatum, which itself comes from the Hebrew word shabbat, meaning “sabbath” or “seventh” day.
