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Where in history is the reference point of modern week day countdown? [SOLVED] (lemmy.world)

submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I mean, if today i.e. is Sunday then someone long time ago should have said "Today will be Sunday" for the first time in a period from today that is multiple of seven. I was assuming that it was Pope Gregory XIII in October 1582, but looks like he is not. I failed in googling and duckduckgoing out the answer, so I ask for Lemmy's collective wisdom!

EDIT: so question is not about the origin of 7-day week and sequence of weekday names, but about the exact reference point (day) of today’s weekday countdown. From when have people stopped adding or ommiting any adjustment 'out-of-week' days (like in Babylon or Rome) and kept counting to seven till today? In other words, there should be a point exactly N x 7 days ago from which the 7-day countdown has not been interrupted. Or at least the earliest known day in history that everyone on Earth agreed upon as a reference point

EDIT 2: Solved by https://lemmy.world/comment/1852458 Thanks everyone!

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (13 children)

I believe most weekday names as we know them in English and many other northern European languages derive from the vikings.

Monday, not sure?
Tuesday = Tir's day, Tir/Thyra being a woman in the Nordic mythology.
Wednesday = Wotan's day, also "onsdag" in Nordic languages, Wotan=Odin.
Thursday = Thor's day, also "torsdag" in Nordic languages.
Friday = "fredag", from Frey/Freia in the Nordic mythology.
Saturday = lørdag, not sure.
Sunday = literally the day of the sun.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Don't know about Saturday, but "lørdag" comes from the Norse word for "washing day" because the vikings were surprisingly hygienic for their time, and bathed/washed themselves once a week.

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