Friday
Friday is the sixth day of the week in the Gregorian calendar and most other calendars derived from the Roman system, positioned after Thursday and before Saturday.[1] The English name derives from Old English frīgedæg, meaning "Frigg's day," referring to the Norse goddess Frigg, wife of Odin and associated with marriage, love, and the heavens, a calque of the Latin dies Veneris ("day of Venus"), the planetary day dedicated to the Roman goddess of love.[2][3] In Western cultures, Friday typically signifies the approach or start of the weekend, often marking the end of the standard five-day workweek and associated with relaxation and social activities.[4] Religiously, it holds prominence in Abrahamic traditions: for Muslims, it is Jumu'ah, the day of obligatory congregational prayer (salat al-jumu'ah), regarded as the most blessed day of the week based on Quranic injunctions and prophetic traditions emphasizing forgiveness and communal gathering.[5] In Christianity, Good Friday annually commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, a pivotal event in the faith observed with fasting and reflection.[6] Superstitions linking Friday, particularly the 13th, to misfortune emerged in modern folklore rather than ancient origins, though empirical data shows no causal basis for such beliefs beyond cultural reinforcement.[7]Etymology and Historical Origins
Linguistic Roots in Indo-European Languages
In the Germanic branch of Indo-European languages, the term for Friday originates from Proto-Germanic *frīgez dagaz, reconstructed as "day of Frīgez" (the goddess Frigg or Freyja, associated with love and fertility), which evolved into Old English frīgedæg and modern English "Friday".[2] This form appears consistently across West Germanic languages, such as Old High German frītag yielding modern German Freitag, Dutch vrijdag, and Old Norse frjádagr becoming Icelandic föstudagur, reflecting a calque of Latin dies Veneris ("day of Venus") adapted to the native Germanic pantheon where Frigg served as the equivalent deity.[2] The goddess's name derives from Proto-Germanic *Frijjō, linked to the verbal root *frijaną ("to love"), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *prih₂- or *preyH- ("to love, to be fond of"), a root also ancestral to English words like "friend," "free," and "freedom" through semantic shifts toward affection and liberty. In the Romance languages, Friday's designation stems directly from Latin diēs Veneris, "day of Venus," the Roman goddess of love, with modern reflexes including French vendredi, Italian venerdì, Spanish viernes, and Portuguese sexta-feira (the latter incorporating a numerical element from Latin sextus, "sixth," overlaid on the planetary association).[8] Venus's name traces to Proto-Italic *wenos-, denoting "desire" or "charm," from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wén-eh₂- ("to desire, to strive for"), a root evoking longing and attraction that parallels the Germanic love-goddess etymology but preserves the Latin planetary nomenclature without calquing.[9] This shared thematic root in desire and love across branches underscores a conceptual continuity in Indo-European naming conventions for the fifth weekday, tied to the planet Venus's visibility and astrological role, though divergent phonological developments and cultural adaptations produced branch-specific forms.[2] Beyond Germanic and Romance, other Indo-European branches exhibit varied derivations less directly linked to Venus or love roots; for instance, Slavic languages like Russian pyatnitsa derive from *pęťь ("five"), numbering the day sequentially from Sunday, while Greek Paraskeví ("preparation") reflects Jewish Sabbath influences rather than planetary etymology.[10] These patterns highlight how Proto-Indo-European linguistic inheritance interacted with later Hellenistic, Roman, and Christian overlays, with the Venus/Frigg association dominating in Western Indo-European traditions due to Roman imperial dissemination of the seven-day planetary week by the 2nd century CE.[11]Integration into the Seven-Day Week System
The seven-day week, tracing its origins to Mesopotamian astronomers around the 6th century BCE who associated days with the seven visible celestial bodies—Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn—provided the framework for Friday's integration as the planetary day dedicated to Venus.[12] This Babylonian system emphasized a continuous cycle without fixed starting points tied to lunar phases, prioritizing astrological influences over agricultural or civil calendars.[13] The sequence of days emerged from the Chaldean ordering of planets by perceived orbital speed (Saturn slowest to Moon fastest), applied to hourly divisions: each day's first hour was assigned to the next planet in line, yielding the fixed order where the fifth day corresponded to Venus.[14] In the Roman Empire, the seven-day planetary week gained traction by the 1st century CE through Hellenistic and Egyptian astrological influences, supplanting the traditional eight-day nundinal cycle used for markets.[15] Friday became dies Veneris, named for Venus, the goddess of love and equivalent to the planet observed as the "evening star," positioned after dies Iovis (Jupiter/Thursday) and before dies Saturni (Saturn/Saturday).[16] Emperor Constantine's edict of 321 CE formalized the week's structure by designating Sunday (dies Solis) as a day of rest, implicitly endorsing the planetary sequence already widespread in imperial administration, military records, and popular calendars, though pagan associations persisted.[13] As the system spread northward with Christianization and Germanic migrations in the early medieval period, dies Veneris adapted to local pantheons: in Anglo-Saxon England, it evolved into Frīgedæg by the 8th century, honoring Frigg (or Freya), the Norse goddess of love and marriage whose attributes paralleled Venus, preserving the fifth-day slot in the cycle.[17] This linguistic substitution maintained the astrological core while aligning with Teutonic mythology, ensuring Friday's consistent role as the pre-Sabbath day in both ecclesiastical and secular reckonings across Europe.[15]Names in Different Languages
In Germanic and Romance Languages
In Germanic languages, the name for Friday typically derives from the Proto-Germanic *Frijjōz dagaz, meaning "Frigg's day" or "Freya's day," referencing the Norse goddess Frigg (or her counterpart Freya), associated with love, fertility, and marriage. This nomenclature reflects the adaptation of the Roman planetary week, substituting the native deity for Venus. English "Friday" stems directly from Old English Frīgedæg.[2] German employs Freitag, Dutch vrijdag (evolving from Friadag via phonetic shifts where "Frija" became "vrij" meaning "free" but retaining goddess association), while Scandinavian languages use variants like Swedish and Norwegian fredag, Danish fredag, all tracing to Frigg or Freya.[18][19]| Language | Name | Etymological Note |
|---|---|---|
| English | Friday | From Old English Frīgedæg, "Frigg's day"[2] |
| German | Freitag | From Middle High German vri(t)tag, linked to goddess Frigg/Freya[18] |
| Dutch | Vrijdag | From Old Dutch friadag, goddess-derived "free day" in form but etymologically Frigg's day[19] |
| Swedish | Fredag | From Old Norse frjádagr, "Freya's day"[18] |
| Norwegian | Fredag | Cognate with Swedish, from Frigg/Freya[18] |
| Danish | Fredag | Similar Norse origin as above[18] |
| Language | Name | Etymological Note |
|---|---|---|
| French | Vendredi | From Latin dies Veneris, "Venus's day"[8] |
| Italian | Venerdì | Direct from Latin Veneris dies[18] |
| Spanish | Viernes | Vulgar Latin evolution of dies Veneris[18] |
| Portuguese | Sexta-feira | From Latin sextae feriae, "sixth day"[20] |
| Romanian | Vineri | From Latin Veneris, akin to Italian[20] |