When did the week become 7 days?
By the middle of the 20th century every country had a 7 day week, mainly because of international business. In 500BC, Hindu civilization had a 7 day week, with a Sun-day and a Mon-day. The ancient Babylonians also had a 7 day week and used the sun, moon and 5 planets they could see, to name the days.
Hebrews and later, Christians, herd of a 7 day week that corresponded with the 7 seven days of creation. The Chinese had a 7 ay week by 600AD. They used the ancient Babylonians ideas for their week.
7 days of the week and holy days
In Rome, in AD 321, the emperor Constantine made Sunday the day for religion and sacred practices because different people in Rome were using different day as their sacred day.
The Jews continue to this day to have Saturday as their holy day. Sunday is the Christian holy day, and Friday has always been the Muslim holy day.
Were there always 7 days in a week?
“Week” means the same as “market day” in many ancient civilizations, so it might be that a week was the amount of time chosen between gathering to buy and sell produce. The week may not have been 7 days at first, just a fixed number of days.
The French Revolution calendar had 10 day weeks. The early Viking calendar had 5 day weeks called Fimmts . The ancient Egyptians used a 10 day week. Until 1940, the Soviet Union had a 5 day and 6 day week. The Maya calendar has 13 and 20 day weeks.
The names of the week
The Jewish people, Russian and Portuguese simply number their week days, except for Sunday (the Jews), and Saturday, Sunday and Monday (the Portuguese and Russians).
English |
Portuguese |
Russian |
Meaning of Russian name |
Monday |
segunda-feira |
ponedelnik |
After "do-nothing" |
Tuesday |
terça-feira |
vtornik |
Second |
Wednesday |
quarta-feira |
sreda |
Middle |
Thursday |
quinta-feira |
chetverg |
Fourth |
Friday |
sexta-feira |
pyatnitsa |
Fifth |
Saturday |
sabado |
subbota |
Sabbath |
Sunday |
domingo |
voskresenye |
Resurrection |
The French language and most Latin based languages still name the days after the 5 planets seen by ancient people. The Hindi, Japanese and Korean and other Asiatic people use names with similar meanings.
English |
French |
"Planet" |
Monday |
lundi |
Moon |
Tuesday |
mardi |
Mars |
Wednesday |
mercredi |
Mercury |
Thursday |
jeudi |
Jupiter |
Friday |
vendredi |
Venus |
Saturday |
samedi |
Saturn |
Sunday |
dimanche |
(Sun) |
The British still use planet names for Saturday, Sunday and Monday but other day names come from the names of Anglo-Saxon and Nordic gods:
- Tieu (god of war and slay) Tuesday
- Woden (god of the wild hunt) Wednesday
- Thor (god of thunder) Thursday
- Freya (goddess of love) Friday.
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