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

[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.