The name is acalque of the Latindies Mercurii 'day ofMercury', reflecting the fact that the Germanic godWoden (Wodanaz or Odin) during theRoman era wasinterpreted as "Germanic Mercury".
The Latin name dates to the late 2nd or early 3rd century. It is a calque of Greekἡμέρα Ἕρμου (heméraHérmou), a term first attested, together with the system of naming the seven weekdays after the seven classical planets, in theAnthologiarum byVettius Valens (c. AD 170).
The Latin name is reflected directly in the weekday name in most modernRomance languages:mércuris (Sardinian),mercredi (French),mercoledì (Italian),miércoles (Spanish),miercuri (Romanian),dimecres (Catalan),marcuri ormercuri (Corsican),mèrcore (Venetian). In Welsh it isDydd Mercher, meaning 'Mercury's Day'.
TheDutch name for the day,woensdag, has the same etymology as EnglishWednesday; it comes fromMiddle Dutchwodenesdag,woedensdag ('Wodan's day').
TheGerman name for the day,Mittwoch (literally: 'mid-week'), replaced the former nameWodenstag ('Wodan's day') in the 10th century. (Similarly, theYiddish word for Wednesday isמיטוואך (mitvokh), meaning and sounding a lot like theGerman word it came from.)
MostSlavic languages follow this pattern and use derivations of 'the middle' (Belarusianсерадаserada,Bulgarianсрядаsryada,Croatiansrijeda,Czechstředa,Macedonianсредаsreda,Polishśroda,Russianсредаsredá,Serbianсредаsreda orcриједаsrijeda,Slovakstreda,Slovenesreda,Ukrainianсередаsereda). TheFinnish name iskeskiviikko ('middle of the week'), as is theIcelandic name:miðvikudagur, and theFaroese name:mikudagur ('mid-week day'). Some dialects of Faroese haveónsdagur, though, which shares etymology with Wednesday.Danish,Norwegian,Swedishonsdag, (Ons-dag meaningOdens dag 'Odin's day').
InJapanese, the word for Wednesday is水曜日 (sui youbi) meaning 'water day' and is associated with水星 (suisei): Mercury (the planet), literally meaning 'water star'. Similarly, inKorean the word for Wednesday is수요일;su yo il, also meaning 'water day'.
In most of thelanguages of India, the word for Wednesday isBudhavāra —vāra meaning 'day' andBudha being the planetMercury.
InArmenian (Չորեքշաբթիchorekshabti),Georgian (ოთხშაბათიotkhshabati),Turkish (çarşamba), andTajik (chorshanbiyev) languages the word literally means 'four (days) from Saturday' originating fromPersian (چهارشنبهcheharshanbeh).
Portuguese uses the wordquarta-feira, meaning 'fourth day', while inGreek the word isTetarti (Τετάρτη) meaning simply 'fourth'. Similarly,Arabicأربعاء means 'fourth',Hebrewרביעי means 'fourth', andPersianچهارشنبه means 'fourth day'. Yet the name for the day inEstoniankolmapäev,Lithuaniantrečiadienis, andLatviantrešdiena means 'third day' while inMandarin Chinese星期三 (xīngqīsān), means 'day three', as Sunday is unnumbered.
Quakers traditionally referred to Wednesday as "Fourth Day" to avoid thepagan associations with the name "Wednesday",[2] or in keeping with the practice of treating each day as equally divine.
TheEastern Orthodox Church observes Wednesday (as well as Friday) as afast day throughout the year (with the exception of several fast-free periods during the year). Fasting on Wednesday and Fridays entailsabstinence frommeat or animal products (i.e., four-footed animals),poultry anddairy products. Unless afeast day occurs on a Wednesday, the Orthodox also abstain fromfish, from using oil in their cooking and fromalcoholic beverages (there is some debate over whether abstention from oil involves allcooking oil or onlyolive oil). For the Orthodox, Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the year commemorate the betrayal of Jesus (Wednesday) and the Crucifixion of Christ (Friday). There are hymns in theOctoekhos which reflect this liturgically. These include specialTheotokia (hymns to theMother of God) calledStavrotheotokia ('Cross-Theotokia'). Thedismissal at the end of services on Wednesday begins with these words: "May Christ our true God, through the power of the precious and life-giving cross...."
InIrish andScottish Gaelic, the name for Wednesday also refers to fasting, as it isDé Céadaoin in Irish Gaelic andDi-Ciadain in Scottish Gaelic, which comes fromchéad, meaning 'first', andaoine, meaning 'fasting', which combined means 'first day of fasting'.[3]
In American culture manyCatholic andProtestant churches schedule study or prayer meetings on Wednesday nights. The sports calendar in many American public schools reflects this, reserving Mondays and Thursdays for girls' games and Tuesdays and Fridays for boys' games while generally avoiding events on Wednesday evening.
In the Catholic devotion of theHoly Rosary, the glorious mysteries are meditated on Wednesday and also Sunday throughout the year.
Wednesday is the day of the week devoted by the Catholic tradition toSaint Joseph.
Wednesday is sometimes informally referred to as "hump day" inNorth America, a reference to the fact that Wednesday is the middle day—or "hump"—of a typical work week.[5]Lillördag, or "little Saturday", is a Nordic tradition of turning Wednesday evening into a small weekend-like celebration.[6] Humpday is also a name of a2009 film.
InPoland, Wednesday night is often referred by young people as "time ofvodka", after song by Bartosz Walaszek "Środowa noc to wódy czas"
Theastrological sign of the planetMercury,☿, represents Wednesday—dies Mercurii to the Romans, it had similar names in Latin-derived languages, such as theItalianmercoledì (dì means 'day'), theFrenchmercredi, and theSpanishmiércoles. In English, this became "Woden's Day", since the Roman godMercury was identified by Woden inNorthern Europe and it is especially aligned by the astrological signs ofGemini andVirgo.[citation needed]
^"Guide to Quaker Calendar Names". Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative) Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Retrieved30 March 2017.In the 20th Century, many Friends began accepting use of the common date names, feeling that any pagan meaning has been forgotten. The numerical names continue to be used, however, in many documents and more formal situations."
^Rodziewicz, Artur (19 December 2016). "And the Pearl Became an Egg: The Yezidi Red Wednesday and Its Cosmogonic Background".Iran and the Caucasus.20 (3–4):347–367.doi:10.1163/1573384X-20160306.
