Many Italian-American children learned to recite the
days of the week in Italian even though they never learned much else of the
language. As a child, after learning to
recite the days of the week in English, I gradually began to learn their
Italian counterparts. They were domenica,
lunedì,, martedì,, mercoledì,,
giovedì,, venerdì,, and sabato. From that time on, I knew them and used them
when necessary.
But
it was later, after studying Italian, that I discovered the significance of
those words. To explain, we need to go
back to about 250 BC. You see, the
ancient Romans were an enterprising bunch.
After conquering Greece, they helped themselves to everything they could
get their hands on, including the Greek gods… and oh yes, the goddesses too, (No
sexism here). However, not happy with
the Greek names for their gods (and goddesses), the Romans renamed them in
Latin.
Although
there were many gods, only seven in particular served to name the days of the
week. What is more, they translate quite easily into Italian: They are Luna –
lunedì,, Mars – martedì,, Mercury – mercoledì,, Jupiter – giovedì,, Venus – venerdì, and Saturn
– sabato. They ‘re the same heavenly
bodies we often see when looking upward. How strange it is to realize that the ancient
Romans left us a legacy of names for each day of the week. Ah, but what happened to Sunday ?
Well,
Sunday seems to have undergone a kind of modification through the years. To
begin with, we must remember that Sunday is considered to be the first day of
the week and Saturday the last. The Hebrews,
recognizing Saturday as being the seventh day and wishing to honor God in their
own way, followed closely the passages in the book of Genesis which narrate the
creation of heaven and earth by God in six days. It then goes on to say, “And
God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, and he rested from all His work.”
Therefore, the day which they call the Sabbath was set aside as their holy day.
The
Romans, after converting to Christianity and in response to the Sabbath, were
believed to have changed the first day of the week from “Dies Solis”, day of the Sun,
to “Dies Dominus”, the day of the Lord, or as the Italians
call it, “domenica”. Sunday, or “domenica”
, therefore, became the Christian holy
day. After all this, I kind of chuckle when I think
of the relationship between days and planets, especially when I read the book
title, Women are from Venus, Men are from Mars . You see, I was born on a Tuesday.
Ahh,
those Romans! Ya gotta love ‘em!
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