Portugal is the only Western European country that numbers the days of the week, apart from Saturday and Sunday. Is Portugal too catholic to be naming the days of the week after pagan gods?

This Western European way of naming the days of the week may well come from Scandinavia, or the Vikings. Scandinavians have the same names for the days of the week as Western Europe, except for Saturday; they call that washing or bath day. Yes, they do wash once a week!

Eastern Europe is different

Take Poland and Russia, for example; they do not share the same mythological meanings for the days as many Western European languages. While Germanic languages (like English and German) and Romance languages (like French and Spanish) name most days after pagan gods or planetary deities, Polish uses a literal, descriptive, and numerical counting system based around Sunday, as do the Russians. Their way of naming the days of the week starts with Sunday, as a day of “doing nothing”, Monday is simply the day after Sunday. Then Tuesday is similar to the second day of the week, Thursday the fourth and Friday the fifth. Wednesday means as much as “middle”. Makes some sort of sense, doesn’t it?

Weekend days

Saturday and Sunday in the Germanic and Romance languages have slightly different meanings. Saturday in Germanic languages is the day of Saturn. Sabado in the Romance languages comes from the Latin sabbatum, which traces back to the Hebrew Shabbat, or day of rest. And Sunday in the Latin/Romance languages is not Sunday, but Domingo, Dimanche, Domenica, the day of the Lord.

Credits: TPN; Author: Scarlett Verkuijlen;

Why seven days in a week?

The seven-day week traces back to the ancient Babylonians around 2300 BCE. They were based on their honouring of the seven celestial bodies (Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn), and it was made official across the Roman Empire by Emperor Constantine in 321 AD. The 12-month year evolved from early 10-month Roman systems, with January and February added around 700 BCE and later standardised by Julius Caesar.

Two calendars

One calendar belongs to my American friend Jen, and the other to my Dutch/Swedish friend Evie.

By the way, when making an appointment, I still often translate the day in my head either from English into Portuguese or from Portuguese to English, sort of to make sure I’ve got it right.

Even after 13 years in the country. Sad, isn't it?

Except Friday (Sexta), somehow I always get that one right…