Who named the days of the week? Who named the months of the year?

Answer 1

There are not always specific names given, but there are groups of people that are named responsible for creating certain names. See below:

http://webexhibits.org/calendars/week.html

The common explanation is that the seven-day week was established as imperial calendar in the late Roman empire and furthered by the Christian church for historical reasons. The British Empire used the seven-day week and spread it worldwide. Today the seven-day week is enforced by global business and media schedules, especially television and banking.

The first pages of the Bible explain how God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. This seventh day became the Jewish day of rest, the sabbath, Saturday.

Extra-biblical locations sometimes mentioned as the birthplace of the 7-day week include: Babylon, Persia, and several others. The week was known in Rome before the advent of Christianity.

Except for the sabbath, Jews simply number their week days.

A related method is partially used in Portuguese and Russian:



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

English Portuguese Russian Meaning of Russian name
Monday segunda-feira ponedelnik After "do-nothing"
Tuesday terça-feira vtornik Second
Wednesday quarta-feira sreda Middle
Thursday quinta-feira chetverg Fourth
Friday sexta-feira pyatnitsa Fifth
Saturday sabado subbota Sabbath
Sunday domingo voskresenye Resurrection

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Most Latin-based languages connect each day of the week with one of the seven "planets" of the ancient times: Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. French, for example, uses:



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

English French "Planet"
Monday lundi Moon
Tuesday mardi Mars
Wednesday mercredi Mercury
Thursday jeudi Jupiter
Friday vendredi Venus
Saturday samedi Saturn
Sunday dimanche (Sun)

http://webexhibits.org/calendars/year-history.html

Month Latin Origin
January Januarius Named after the god Janus.
February Februarius Named after Februa, the purification festival.
March Martius Named after the god Mars.
April Aprilis Named either after the goddess Aphrodite or the Latin word aperire, to open.
May Maius Probably named after the goddess Maia.
June Junius Probably named after the goddess Juno.
July Julius Named after Julius Caesar in 44 B.C.E. Prior to that time its name was Quintilis from the word quintus, fifth, because it was the 5th month in the old Roman calendar.
August Augustus Named after emperor Augustus in 8 B.C.E. Prior to that time the name was Sextilis from the word sextus, sixth, because it was the 6th month in the old Roman calendar.
September September From the word septem, seven, because it was the 7th month in the old Roman calendar.
October October From the word octo, eight, because it was the 8th month in the old Roman calendar.
November November From the word novem, nine, because it was the 9th month in the old Roman calendar.
December December From the word decem, ten, because it was the 10th month in the old Roman calendar.

Before today's Gegorian calendar was adopted, the older Julian calendar was used. It was admirably close to the actual length of the year, as it turns out, but the Julian calendar was not so perfect that it didn't slowly shift off track over the following centuries. But, hundreds of years later, monks were the only ones with any free time for scholarly pursuits -- and they were discouraged from thinking about the matter of "secular time" for any reason beyond figuring out when to observe Easter. In the Middle Ages, the study of the measure of time was first viewed as prying too deeply into God's own affairs -- and later thought of as a lowly, mechanical study, unworthy of serious contemplation.

As a result, it wasn't until 1582, by which time Caesar's calendar had drifted a full 10 days off course, that Pope Gregory finally reformed the Julian calendar.

Answer 2

The Months were named after Mythological Gods, I think by the Romans.

I know September, October, November and December used to be the 7th, 8th, 9th, & 10th months, since the calander only went up to 10. Once I learned that I was like DUH!

The latin prefixes make it obbvious... October- Oct, like octopus... 8? get it...

January, is the God Janus
June- Godess Juno
Augus - Cesar Augustus

Thats all I know.

Answer 3

Hi, Here are a couple of web sites that help explain. Most of the names came from the plantets or Gods.

Answer 4

http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/academy/time/weekdays.html
http://webexhibits.org/calendars/week.html
http://www.pantheon.org/miscellaneous/origin_months.html

Do any of these help?

Your search engine is your friend. Don't take advice on here. It's unreliable. If I am on here I never ask for facts about anything important. I am only interested in opinion (at least on here). I would hate for someone to lie to you. Be careful.

That's funny and Ironic that here I am Giving Advice.

It's even funnier now that I see everyone elses reply.

Answer 5

I only know Thursday was named after the Norse god Thor, July after the roman emperor Julius Ceasar, and August after another roman emperor Augustus Ceasar (Julius' nephew)

Answer 6

Who cares? Why don't you post a question that you're really interested in and that you cannot find the answer to with a Google search, like opinions? Between supid questions and repetitious questions (what is the purpose of life, who created....) this is getting to be a major bore... sheesh, give it a break or get a life! Get serious, PLEASE!

Answer 7

It was me. And I'll thank you not to change them. I like them just the way they are.

Answer 8

i dont know?