Each student is familiar with the names of the days of the week, but not everyone thinks about how they originated. Of course, some little things to keep asking their parents persistently and bombarding them with questions like “Why is the environment called the environment?” The task of adults is not only to provide children with complete information on this issue. It is advisable to submit it in an interesting and informative form, since studying the topic of the days of the week not only allows you to delve deeper into linguistics, but also gives interested students the basics of knowledge in astronomy, history and mythology.
The names of the third day of the week in Slavic languages
When forming the words denoting the days of the week, in Slavic languages, priority was given to their numerical order. Thus, it is not difficult to understand why the environment is called the environment. This day is the middle of the week. In Ancient Russia, another designation of the environment was common - a third one.
The middle day of the week is likewise called in other modern Slavic languages: “serada” in the Belarusian language, “medium” in Ukrainian, středa in Czech, srijeda in Croatian.
Day of the week Wednesday in some foreign languages
In today's world, children learn foreign languages, starting from kindergarten, and most of them easily remember the days of the week in different languages. It is very important to draw parallels between the names of the days of the week in the mother tongue and the language being studied. This will help to form a holistic picture of the world in a child, develop his ability to summarize information and highlight general patterns in different linguistic phenomena.
For example, in German, the third day of the week was named according to the same principle as in Russian. Mittwoch comes from two words: die Mitte, which means "middle," and die Woche - "week." In the Finnish word keskeviikko - the name of the day also symbolizes the middle of the week. Of course, having caught this correspondence in their native and studied language, children will more easily remember the training material and will successfully learn all the names of the days of the week.
In order to firmly remember the names of the days of the week in English and French, you will need to turn to astronomy, history and mythology.
Wednesday - Wednesday in English. It is easy to remember the day of the week and, in particular, its translation, if you know that the word came from the name of the supreme ancient German god Odin, also called Wotan. He is credited with the image of a traveler, a sage, a connoisseur of secret runic symbols and tales.
When the word "Wednesday" is learned in English (day of the week, the third in a row), it will not be difficult to remember it also in the languages of the Scandinavian group, since they refer to the same god Odin. For example, in Norwegian, Danish and Swedish, “Wednesday” sounds like Onsdag, in Dutch - Woensdag.
What does the day of the week mean Wednesday, it will become clear after becoming familiar with its foreign equivalents in modern languages that have a Latin root. It is known that in French the environment is mercredi, in Spanish - miércoles, in Italian - mercoledì. In Latin, Wednesday literally means the day of Mercury (dies Mercurĭi), which in ancient times was one of the most famous Roman gods.
Gods, planets, days of the week ...
So, it was not difficult to understand why the environment is called the environment in Slavic and some European languages. But it’s still not clear why the name of the third day of the week in many European languages is based on the designation of the planet of the solar system and the name of the god Wotan.
The fact is that representatives of ancient civilizations believed that every day is governed by a particular planet. Each planet corresponded to God, embodied his principle and influenced the lives of people especially strongly on the corresponding day of the week. Thus, the ancient Roman god Mercury, the ancient Greek god Hermes and the Scandinavian god Wotan represent the same cosmic and natural force.
Mythology and astrology
For the Romans, Mercury is the winged messenger of the gods, who was allowed to wander between the underworld and the gods sitting on Olympus. He served as a mediator and conciliator, brought news, crossed the borders dividing people on the earth and gods in the sky. The advent of Mercury symbolized change and the beginning of a new life period.
Since Mercury is the smallest and fastest planet in the solar system, its planetary principle requires a good reaction, a high speed of thought processes, and excellent communication skills. Mercury patronizes learning, knowledge acquisition, trading, mediation, and healing.
Wednesday - Day of Mercury
So, according to ancient astrologers, the environment is under the control of Mercury. What is good to do on this day? On Wednesday, the ability of people to understand, reflect and exchange thoughts is improving. Therefore, on this day, any communication, conclusion of contracts and agreements is well managed, trips, studies and making contacts with new people are easily made.
After it was possible to find out why the environment is called the environment and what is the meaning of this day of the week, everyone can come up with the idea of community and a single source of knowledge available in the cultures and linguistic heritage of different peoples. Only by combining disparate facts into a single integral system can one fully explain to the child the essence of individual linguistic phenomena and, in addition, expand the horizons of one's own perception of the world.