Learn How to Say the Days of the Week in German

USA, New York State, New York City, glass over calendar
WIN-Initiative/Getty Images
By
Hyde Flippo
Hyde Flippo
German Expert
Hyde Flippo taught the German language for 28 years at high school and college levels and published several books on the German language and culture.
Learn about our Editorial Process
Updated on February 21, 2020

The names for the seven days of the week originally came from the Babylonians (Babylonier) who named them for the sun, the moon and the five planetary gods. (Other cultures have had between five and ten days in a week.)

Most of the western Romance languages adopted these terms via Greek and Latin. But the Germanic languages (German and English among them) took on the Teutonic forms. For instance, the Babylonian Marduk, the god of war, was Ares in Greek and Mars in Latin. To the Germanic tribes the god of war was Ziu. So Latin dies marti (Tuesday, "Mars Day") became "mardi" in French, "martes" in Spanish, but ziostag in Old High German, or Dienstag in modern German. English adipted Saturn-Day (Saturday), but German used Germanic forms for the days.

Below are the seven days of the week in their Latin, Germanic and English forms. By the way, the European week begins on Monday, not Sunday, as in North America. (Also see our Date and Time Glossary, which includes the calendar.)

Tage der Woche

LATEIN DEUTSCH ENGLISCH
dies lunae Montag
(Mond-Tag)		 Monday
moon day (lunar)
dies marti
(Mars)		 Dienstag
(Zies-Tag)		 Tuesday
dies mercuri Mittwoch
(mid-week)		 Wednesday
(Wodan's day)
dies iovis
(Jupiter/Jove)		 Donnerstag
(thunder-day)		 Thursday
(Thor's day)
dies veneris
(Venus)		 Freitag
(Freya-Tag)		 Friday
(Freya's day)
dies saturni Samstag/Sonnabend
("Sunday eve" is
used for Saturday
in No. Germany)		 Saturday
(Saturn day)
dies solis Sonntag
(Sonne-Tag)		 Sunday
sun day (solar)
Format
mla apa chicago
Your Citation
Flippo, Hyde. "Learn How to Say the Days of the Week in German." ThoughtCo, Aug. 26, 2020, thoughtco.com/days-of-the-week-in-german-4090247. Flippo, Hyde. (2020, August 26). Learn How to Say the Days of the Week in German. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/days-of-the-week-in-german-4090247 Flippo, Hyde. "Learn How to Say the Days of the Week in German." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/days-of-the-week-in-german-4090247 (accessed March 8, 2023).