This is part two of my 7 part study of the day of the week.
Yesterday we discussed Friday, the "Day of Venus." Today we will look at the day for Saturn and how it came to be.
From Wikipedia and other sources:
Saturday was named no later than the second century for the planet (Saturn), which controlled the first hour of that day according to Vettius Valens (a second-century astrologer and contemporary of Ptolemy).
Saturn is named after the Roman god Saturnus. Saturnus was a major Roman god of agriculture and harvest. Saturn was the father of Ceres, Jupiter, and Veritas, among others.
The days of the week after the seven Classical "planets" (in order Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn), naming the first day of the week for the Sun, perceived as most important, and moving to those perceived as lesser.
Saturday is the only day of the week in which the English name comes from Roman mythology. The English names of all of the other days of the week come from Anglo-Saxon polytheism.
"Saturday," observed by the Jews as a day of rest. The Babylonians regarded seventh days as unlucky, and avoided certain activities then; the Jewish observance may have begun as a similar custom. From the seventh day of the week, it began to be applied c.1410 to the first day (Sunday - the "Lords Day"), a change completed during the Reformation.
In Scandinavian countries, Saturday is called Lördag or Löverdag etc., the name being derived from the old word laugr (hence Icelandic name Laugardagur), meaning bath, thus Lördag equates to bath-day. This is due to the Viking usage of bathing on Saturdays.
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