Today's Problem.

[rinue]

Today, I had concerns.

Concerns about Tuesday.

Not this Tuesday in particular, but Tuesday as a concept.

I don't know how I feel about conceptual Tuesday.

See, the other days of the week make sense to me. Saturn's day, Sun's Day, and Moon's day are logical, and come from the French naming system; Woden's day, Thor's day, and Freya's day are likewise logically Norse, representing the German component of the English language.

But Tuesday. Fucking Tuesday.

I asked people. Asked people on the street. Asked teachers, asked friends, asked enemies and charlatans.

No.

Eventually, I retreated to the world of the Webster's Unabridged and discovered. . .

Thiw's day.

Thiw.

I'll say that again:

Thiw.

Who is this Thiw, and how did he get into the middle of my week? I certainly didn't vote for him. I don't even know who he is, beyond the dictionary's nebulous suggestions that he was a Celtic war god revered by the Anglo Saxons. Internet searches seeking confirmation and additional knowledge have turned up blank.

Fucking Thiw. Even now, when my quest should be over, he torments me.

Comments

[aerie.livejournal.com]

i don't know if this will relieve any of that crushing anxiety *g* but perhaps you could not find Thiw because it is usually written Tiu.

methinks it is the anglo-saxonisation of Tyr, which (comfortingly) places it among our other Asgard-ian loans as the Norse god of war (among other things).

[rinue.livejournal.com]

::dances with joy::

Thank you. Another mystery solved. :)

-Romie

[tillytilly.livejournal.com]

Oh god. Please don't bring the general poor quality of our shared language.

Days of the week aren't the worst culprits though. It's months, the fucking months are messing with our minds.

SEPtmeber
OCTober
NOVember
DECember

Ooh I see a pattern - bit like numbers. *But* they don't *all* fit the pattern *and* the pattern is wrong. Why is the 12th month called Dec? Why? Why? Why? I suspect the Romans are involved.

What did the Roman's ever do for us?

You can keep your roads. You fucked up the months. You bastards.

At least you know where you are with years 2000 - 2001 - 2002. Well apart from the whole 21st century thing, that sucks. Oh and AD BC, which is also broken because of the lack of zero.

Neither the 24 hour clock or the am/pm system are satisfactory.

I really wish you hadn't brought this up. Except Tuesday I don't mind. Coz it can't be said without pouting. And you know how shallow I am.

*kissy*

[rinue.livejournal.com]

You are right in guessing that it has to do with the romans, *and* right (in a sense) that it has to do with numbers.

But actually what it has to do with is names of emperors:

Septus (or Septimus, I can't remember).
Octavian.
Decius.
Julius.
Augustus.
Etc.

It's just that several of these (Octavian, Decius*) are people who were named after numbers. ::laughs:: Which is why the month names that are similar to numbers have little relation to the number of the month itself.

-Romie

*Deca is, I *believe* ten, although it could be twelve. Decalogue, Decimiter, etc.

Re:

[tillytilly.livejournal.com]

Stoppit stoppit stoppit. This just raises more question than it answers

What Roman emporer was called May? I don't remember any old lady Roman emporers.

And the number names don't have *no* relations to the months - they have an order. There is a pattern...it's just broken.

And Dec isn't 12, that's Dodec. Isn't it? Or what am I thinking of?

My head hurts. You know who I blame. The Babylonians and there base bloody 60. We should never have come down from the trees.

[katiebec.livejournal.com]

You're thinking of a dodecahedron. Which is a twelve-faced solid. Kind of makes sense: two+ten, do+dec.

January: named after Janus, an old Latin deity, the god of the sun and the year, to whom the month of January was sacred. Janus the two-faced god, who looks both ways, into the new year and back into the old)

February: the month of expiation, because on the fifteenth of this month the great feast of expiation and purification was held; akin to 'februare' (to purify, expiate). (I wonder if Lent has anything to do with this...)

March: Mars, the god of war.

April: L. Aprilis. OE. also Averil, F. Avril, fr. L. Aprilis. (Something to do with April being the month in which vegetation puts...forth...?)

May: in honor of the goddess Maia, daughter of Atlas and mother of Mercury by Jupiter. (Also the eldest of the Pleiades.)

June: either from Junius, the name of a Roman gens, or from Juno, the goddess.

July: Caius Julius C[ae]sar, who was born in this month.

August: [The old Roman name was Sextilis, the sixth month from March, the month in which the primitive Romans, as well as Jews, began the year. The name was changed to August in honor of Augustus C[ae]sar, the first emperor of Rome, on account of his victories, and his entering on his first consulate in that month.]

September: seventh month from March

October: eight month from March

November: ...ninth...

December: tenth month from March!


The problem seems to be that the first calender the Romans used began in March (and very sensible that is, what with the beginning of spring and rebirth symbolism and all), but when they switched over to the Julian calendar, starting with January, they had to rename the months. However, they ran out of inspiration at August, and the last four months still linger in antiquity.

[tillytilly.livejournal.com]

Gawd, I wish we still had a month called sextitties.

[katiebec.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I guess they explained the weirdness of Sept/Oct/Nov/Dec by claiming they were named after the other emperor guys. Would dictionary.com lie to me?