Toluwani Ahmed
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4 min read
·
Jan 10, 2023

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The concept of time is one so familiar yet hard to really describe or define. Majority view time as an observed phenomenon fundamental to the universe, while others find it to be no more than an illusion created by the human mind. Whatever the case may be, time seems to be one important aspect of the human experience. And just like every physical phenomenon, time comes in measurements, all which are completely determined by the human observer.
Even though time is hard to really describe, the units or measurements of time do not have that difficulty. A year is roughly the amount of time it takes for the earth to revolve around the sun, a month is roughly the amount of time the moon revolves around the earth and a day is the amount of time it takes for the earth to rotate around its axis. An hour is a fractionalized derivative of a day, being a twenty-fourth of a day, while a minute is a 60th of an hour. Not all units of time have any clear astronomical attachment to them though. The 7-day week is one which seems to have a very strange connection to the cosmos. It’s a story that will certainly make your week (tongue in cheek).
The Jewish Torah is one of the earliest records of the 7-day week, describing it as the cycle of creation God is said to have undertook from commanding light on the first day to resting on the seventh day. But the 7-day week is one that predates Jewish culture and goes back to the people of ancient Babylon who were astronomers in their own right. The designation and the names of the 7 days of the week were inspired by the (then) 7 unique heavenly bodies which they termed “planets”: the sun, the moon, Venus, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. At the time, the earth was still believed to be the centre of the universe, so every other observed entity in what is our solar system today were termed planets. Both Neptune and Uranus were also undiscovered at the time. It is believed that the Babylonians made a 7-day week to break the 28-day lunar cycle into 4 parts, and also to pay homage to each of the 7 planets, each of which were named after some of their gods. This week system seemed to gain major influence around the globe, right up until the Romans came along.
In a classic case of copying one’s friends’ homework and just changing up the words, the Romans took the Babylonian template and flipped it. They named the planets, (and in the same vein, the days of the week) after their own gods. All of these names are what we are familiar with today. Therefore, Saturday, Sunday and Monday were respectively named after Saturn, the Sun and the moon. The other days of the week as we know of today took a more complicated turn.
The very first set of English speakers, called the Anglo-Saxons were heavily influenced by the Romans and also accepted the 7-day week template. In another case of copying one’s friends’, but with a little lazier twist, the Anglo-Saxons decided to name the other 4 days of the week after their own gods; the gods of Norse mythology. Specifically, they named the other 4 days of the week after Norse gods similar to that of the Roman gods. The day of Mars, the Roman god of war, called “dies Martis” was Tiwesdæg (now Tuesday), after Tiw, or Tyr, the Norse god of war.
The day of Mercury, “dies mercurii”, was called Wodensdæg, named after the Norse god Woden, otherwise known as Odin, the father of Thor. Although both Odin and Mercury were very different, they possessed both great wisdom and respect within each respective pantheon.
Speaking of Thor, Thursday was named after the Norse god of thunder by the Anglo-Saxons, who originally called the Roman “dies Jovis”, or Jupiter’s day “Thorsdæg”. Jupiter was the Roman god of thunder.
Friday was originally called “dies Veneris” by the Romans, named after Venus, the goddess of love, sex and fertility. This day would later be called Frigedæg, named after Frigg, the wife of Odin. She was the goddess of fertility and motherhood.
As noble, iconic and influential as the days of the week are, it really is meaningless in the cosmos. We appreciate the efforts of the Babylonians, but I find it funny that our lives have been dictated by a system of time that was introduced based on observations made out of sheer ignorance (err, no offense to them). Who knows, maybe if the Babylonians had observed Neptune and Uranus, we’d have had 9 days of the week. If they knew the Sun and moon weren’t planets, our week would probably have been 5 days. We will never know but I find it fun to think about.