Initially TT was all about the ranting. Then last week, I introduced the un-TT. Now I'm going to go back to TT but switching it up a bit. I will offer you something to think about. Sure, I know I always do that, yes. But on TTs that I don't rant or do an un-TT, I will offer you something that will change the way you see your day, or in this case, your whole week. Now I'll need a little help finding the answers here, so don't think I happen to know all this information because I'm really not that knowledgeable, although I'm pretty decent at trivia.
THE WEEK
Where do the days of the week come from? I remember hearing that Thursday is really in honor of Norse god Thor? And Sunday is obviously a day of the sun. (For awhile they started spelling Sunday, Sundae to make it a day of the whipped cream and cherry, but that didn't last). And Monday is Moon's Day. I used to know them all but now, not so sure. Is Saturday for Saturn? And Friday for the Fry Guy? Actually I have no clue if Monday or Thursday are even right, let alone these other ones.
Let's consult our good friends at Wikipedia.org . Of course we then have to put a huge asterisk next to all our answers since Wikipedia is the source of such fun facts as "Sinbad just died of a heart attack."
(Play your favorite song here while I look up the answers.)
(... this is taking awhile. Play another song.)
(...... I'm a slow reader... play the whole album)
And we're back!
SUNDAY: Okay I was sorta right. This one comes from the German goddess of the Sun Sunna. I didn't even know that the Germans had their own gods. Amazing. I guess the non-Christian Pagan Germans did. Why do we keep this usage though? We don't worship Sunna.
MONDAY: Hmmm maybe all the days of the week come from Germany. Because Monday is named after Mani (or in Olde English Mona) the Germanic god of the Moon. Oh I see, not German mythology, Germanic mythology. I guess that's different... Ah I looked it up. Germanic mythology and Norse mythology are the same thing. Now I feel better.
TUESDAY: No this isn't a day for two year olds, despite what your little monster might try to tell you every Tuesday as he sneaks another cookie. Here we're celebrating Tyr, the Norse god of combat.
WEDNESDAY: Ah the day that throws off all the 100% scores on the weekly spelling bee. Why Wed-Nes, when it's pronounced Wens? Blame it on the olde English Wōdnesdæg, named for the big daddy of Norse gods- Woden aka Odin. Makes sense that the most important Norse god would get the day in the middle.
THURSDAY: Again I was right. The direct translation of this is "Day of Thunor," which is another name for Thor, the Jupiter-like Norse god who's most famous as the one Norse god that anybody's heard of. I guess some folks know this Odin character as well. But Thor gets most of the love.
FRIDAY: Ooh another female day. Here we have a day for the Norse/Germanic love goddess Frige who later changes to Frigg but with some loose connections to Freyja. Now that we're clear, let's talk about Frigg for a minute. All you lonely people out there, make sure you call her up to get some action. Well hmm maybe if it's her day, she'll be out fucking who she wants, no time to help with your problems, sorry.
SATURDAY: And now we reach the oddball of the bunch. Saturday, named after you got it, Saturn. This is the only day to keep its original Roman name. Now if you look back at the Roman days of the week, they're all named for the Roman equivalents of all those Norse gods I just told you about.
Now don't you feel so much smarter? Next week if there's nothing to rant about, I'll tell you all about the months.
And now the realms of Norse mythology:
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