The names of the days have been well known to all of us since we were born. We use them without thinking about their meanings and origins and do not think about their changes in the past. Most often people do not know that until 1976 Sunday was the first day of the week in Christian and Jewish countries. With the DIN-Standardization 1355 Monday became the first day of the week, bound to the UNO decision ISO 8601 in 19731. Though of the world wide decision of the UNO England, Northern America and other countries still count the Sunday as the first day of the week. Even the Islam still use the seven day system with Sunday as the starting day.
The arrangement of the seven day system goes back to the moon cycle of 28 days. Full moon, decreasing half moon, new moon and increasing half moon are the four states that gives us an arrangement of four seven day systems. The naming of the week days goes back to the egocentric world view where the earth is the centre of the universe. The seven viewable planets Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon were used to name the seven week days.
Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)
- Introduction
- The various expressions for “Thursday”
- Iconym “sun of the highest God” + “day”
- Iconym “fifth day”
- Iconym “after” + “Wednesday”
- Triggering forces of lexical change in the case of Thursday
- Lexical acculturation
- Primary and secondary accommodation
- Final remarks
- Bibliography
Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)
This seminar paper investigates the motivation behind the naming of "Thursday". The work analyses each iconym (motive) individually, beginning with the most common and ending with the less frequent. This onomasiological work traces the evolution of the word and clarifies the underlying concepts, relating them to the analyzed word and elaborating on them. The onomasiological approach, from concept to various lexemes, is expanded and clarified by a historical addendum.
- Evolution of the word "Thursday" across different Germanic dialects
- Exploration of the underlying concepts and motivations behind the various names for "Thursday"
- Analysis of the influence of historical, cultural, and religious factors on the naming process
- Comparison of the development of "Thursday" across different languages and dialects
- Examination of the impact of lexical acculturation and accommodation on the naming of "Thursday"
Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)
The introduction provides an overview of the history of the seven-day week system, tracing its origins back to the lunar cycle and the naming conventions based on the seven visible planets. It explains how the system was adopted by different cultures, including the Jews, Greeks, Romans, and Christians, highlighting the changes in the naming and ordering of the days.
The second chapter focuses on the various expressions for "Thursday" in Germanic languages and dialects, grouped according to their iconyms (motives). The main focus is on the iconym "sun of the highest God" + "day", which represents the most common motivation for the name. This chapter also examines the etymology of the term "Thursday" and the phonetic changes that occurred throughout history.
Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)
The primary keywords and focus topics of this paper are onomasiology, Germanic dialects, lexical acculturation, iconyms, etymology, Thursday, Thor, Donar, Dies Jovis, Germanic Gods, lexical change, language history.
- Quote paper
- Sebastian Piaskowski (Author), 2006, On the Names of Thursday in Germanic Dialects, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.hausarbeiten.de/document/67487
