How the Days Got Their Names
Sunday (that is, day of the sun, like Monday day of the moon), the first day of the week, the Lord’s day, was sacred to Sol or the Sun.
Monday (that is, moon-day; Anglo-Saxon, Monandæg, German, Montag), the second day of our week, was formerly sacred to the moon.
Tuesday, the third day of the week, is so called from Tiwesdæg, the day of Tiw or Tiu, the old Saxon name for the god of war. The day bears a corresponding name in the other Germanic dialects.
Wednesday, the fourth day of the week, the Dies Mercurii of the Romans, the Mittwoch of the modern Germans. The name Wednesday is derived from the Northern mythology, and signifies Woden’s or Odin’s day. The Anglo-Saxon form was Wôdanesday, the Old German Woutanestac. The Swedish and Danish is Onsdag.
Thursday, (Swedish Thorsdag, German Donnerstag), the fifth day of the week, is so called from Donar, or Thor (see Dictionary of Myths), who, as god of the air, had much in common with the Roman Jupiter, to whom the same day was dedicated. (Latin Jovis dies, French Jeudi).
Friday, the sixth day of the week, from the Anglo-Saxon Frige-dæg, is the day sacred to Frigga or to Freya, the Saxon Venus.
Saturday (Anglo-Saxon Sæterdæg, Sæterndæg—Sæter, Sætern, for Saturn, and dæg, a day—the day presided over by the planet Saturn), is the seventh or last day of the week; the day of the Jewish Sabbath.