Talk:Wednesday

WikiProject Time assessment rating comment
Want to help write or improve articles about Time? Join WikiProject Time or visit the Time Portal for a list of articles that need improving.

—Yamara ✉  05:09, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Pronunciation
Everyone seems to pronounce it "Wendsday." I was wondering if this was technically correct, and why. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.218.81.1 (talk) 14:44, 14 July 2008 (UTC)
 * What you are actually hearing, phonetically speaking, is /wenzdeı/ or /wenzdı/ (see IPA if you don't understand the symbols). The reason it is pronounced differently fron the spelling is because the spelling was fixed hundreds of years ago, since when English has changed/evolved. There is bound to be an aricle in wikipedia on sound change if you want to go and have a look.  The linguistic processes in particular that have caused the change, if you are interested, would be syncope (phonetics) and assimilation (linguistics). 62.156.255.22 (talk) 15:31, 12 September 2008 (UTC)

brief explanation of pronunciation---

www.theguardian.com "8 pronunciation errors that made the English language what it is today" — Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.63.110.100 (talk) 17:04, 20 March 2014 (UTC)

I'd love to see a Pronunciation section for this article. John Link (talk) 19:11, 21 February 2018 (UTC)

I pronounce it wed - nnnns - day 81.92.210.18 (talk) 12:06, 7 August 2020 (UTC)

Discussion
I know we've got a link to it but I think we should include how Wednesday got its name to match other days --BozMo|talk 15:37, 22 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Does anybody know what "Wednesday's World" mean and how is it used? TQ.

Angel Heart - Wednesday Connection
The film "Angel Heart" starring Robert DiNero and Mickey Rourke includes a reference to Wednesday being "Anything Can Happen Day". Within the film this is claimed to be a reference to the Mickey Mouse Club.

Woden equivalent to Mercury ?
I had thought Woden, who is equivalent to Odin (Norse), was the equivalent of Zeus/Jupiter ?? Mercury was the messenger God, and his germanic/norse equivalent would most likely be Loki ? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.164.30.61 (talk • contribs)


 * It is all pretty much related, most of the gods have equivalencies in different cultures such as the case of Mercury/Hermes/..... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.64.140.220 (talk • contribs)


 * Actually, Woden/Odin was commonly identified with Mercury both by the Romans and by the Germanic peoples themselves. The god associated with Jupiter was Thor (probably because of their common connection to thunderstorms). Incidentally, the Germanic god Tyr/Tiwaz is thought to share a common origin with Zeus and Jupiter, but in the Norse pantheon his importance had been reduced, and he was seen as an analogue of Mars. These examples of interpretetatio romana/germanica are preserved in the names of Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday (the days of Mars, Mercury and Jupiter under the Roman system).

I think it is historical but an error to identify Odin with Hermes. Odin is like 'Dion' (Zeus) both are storm Gods and the head of the pantheon. The Germanic equivalent of Hermes is Hermod, the messenger of the Gods. Thor is like the Greek Brontes the Titanic God of thunder. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.132.248.167 (talk) 17:19, 19 February 2011 (UTC)


 * Why Odin was linked with Mercury is hard to say, but his frequent depiction as a wanderer, his association with the dead, his treachery and his status as keeper of secret knowledge (cf. hermeticism) may have played into it. -Snarkibartfast (talk) 03:12, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

See Wikipedia explanation of Woden. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.63.110.100 (talk) 17:08, 20 March 2014 (UTC)

I'd argue the last line of the opening paragraph is made without a basis in fact, Wōdnesdæg >> Wednesdei (supposedly a calque of "dies Mercurii,") and I challenge that assertion. It's clear that the Middle English word Wednesdei is evolved from the Germanic Old English word, and the calque assertion seems tenuous at best, especially with no reference.99.99.51.64 (talk) 05:53, 30 December 2014 (UTC)

In https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onsdag "Navnet betyder egentlig "Odins dag", jf. oldnordisk Óðinsdagr, engelsk Wednesday." By pronouncing Wednesday badly I can hear me saying Wodnesdæg, but that for me is Oden's day not Wodnes' day, so I would argue that the name is taken from both sources Oden (as in norse mythology) and Woden. By connecting Wednesday with Oden (the major god in norse mythology) it fits nicely between Thur's day (https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torsdag, Navnet betyder egentlig "Tors dag", jf. oldnordisk Þórsdagr, engelsk Thursday, tysk Donnerstag.) and Tue's day (https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tirsdag , Navnet betyder egentlig "Tyrs dag", jf. oldnordisk Týsdagr, engelsk Tuesday, tysk dial. 'Ziestag.)    — Preceding unsigned comment added by 46.194.115.99 (talk) 21:17, 21 July 2015 (UTC)

OE Spelling
I've corrected the Old English spelling to "Wodnesdæg" from the former (incorrect) Wodenesdæg*. Wodenesdæg* is unattested, as far as I can tell (by a search of the DOE project corpus - www.doe.utoronto.ca/ ). Wodnesdæg on the other hand is well attested. Final unstressed syllables (as 'en' in 'Woden') are generally contracted and the vowel deleted with the addition of the genetive '-es' (as 'Wodnes' in 'Wodenesdæg') in OE. --Yst 06:19, 25 August 2005 (UTC)

Third Day
I vote that this day, 'Wednesday' should be renamed 'Third Day' (Monday - First Day, etc.) due to its religious background. This day was named after the German god, Woden, therefore implies that those using the term 'Wednesday' worship the god Woden.......Now, of course, I was joking. But it's scary because there are idiots in this world that want BC and AD replaced with "CE" and "BCE" because apparently "saying AD after or before a year implies that you worship Jesus Christ". Does that really sound legible after first reading what I wrote? Remember... "those using the term 'Wednesday' worship the god Woden". Of course, you thought that was B.S. so why should anyone support the renaming of historical terms with Christian influences over historical terms with German religion influences???. That's my beef. PatrickA 04:49, 4 January 2006 (UTC).
 * But 'Wednesday' is language-specific; many languages use many derivatives of the original root. BC/AD, however, is solely based upon Christianity. And, I'm sure to the frustration of modern-day missionaries, Christianity is not a wholly ubiquitous phenomenon. Hence, the 'Common Era' usage ensures that people who may not know much about Jesus because of either their geographic location or religious upbringing are on equal ground with those who worship him. I would wager that very few people actually believe BC/AD is implying a worship of Christ, and that it's mainly a fabrication of the world media just because it can be seen to be either stupid and/or scandalous. Plus there's also the minor fact that many religions hold a belief in the coming of the Christ, and 'BC' is solely based around Jesus, so it kind of isn't fair (though I wouldn't take that seriously myself), and does have the potention to confuse if anyone sat down and actually thought about the meaning of it all. Names of days, however are present in different forms in every language; none of these issues arise. Talkingpie 21:15, 16 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Yeah, what Talkingpie said. Also BC is inaccurate since most estimates indicated Jesus (Christ) was born around 4 years Before Christ.  What's up with that???
 * That's based on astrology. Whatever astrological symbol Jesus is supposed to represent actually happened a few years off (6?) from 0 AD.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.71.204.146 (talk) 20:21, 9 August 2010 (UTC)

Simply, the Gregorian Calendar, named for Pope Gregory, is a Roman Catholic fabrication and is flawed in its calcualtion, being off by four to six years. There is no doubt the Roman Catholic religious organization was out to rule the world and force its religion on all of mankind and therefore concocted their calendar to "force" their religion into every facet of daily life. Many modern Jews refer to C.E (Common Era) and B.C.E. (Before the Common Era) so as not to acknowledge Jesus as a pivot point in time. The Jewish calendar will begin the year 5768 as of 13/14 September 2007.Greenbomb101 13:28, 15 August 2007 (UTC)

Keskiviikko is literally "mid-week"
The Finnish word for Wednesday, "keskiviikko", literally means "mid-week", not "center of the week" as is claimed in the text.

"Center of the week" would be something like "viikonkeski" or "viikonkeskus".

Obviously, I'm splitting hairs here, but I thought I'd point it out anyway.

Wednesday afternoon
In Holland and Belgium, children get off from school on wednesday afternoons, usually to play a sport. I only recently found out this might not be the case in every country. Could people please say whether this is also the custom in their country or not. In the afternoon of Wednesday, people must roll along the ground and pretend they are an armadillo lizard....yep — Preceding unsigned comment added by Emileeeee (talk • contribs) 02:55, 1 April 2015 (UTC)

More Wednesday Afternoon
It was frequently a custom in 19th and 20th century USA that Wednesday was both a half day for businesses, and a half day for school (at least in the earlier part of this period of time.) I am looking for and would like to add the reason businesses dismissed workers on Wednesday afternoons.

This custom went away with the advent of large retailers, which frequently stay open until late hours (9 or 10 pm) or even 24 hours per day.

--PatPM 03:38, 27 March 2007 (UTC) PatPM

Universities in Scotland tend to get Wednesday afternoon off for sports. --128.2.225.42 19:26, 25 June 2007 (UTC)


 * It was also true of shops in London (and I assume throughout much of the UK) for businesses to close early on a Wednesday. I'm not going to edit the article to that effect, but perhaps if this thread of the discussion is added to it may become a body of information worth including in the article. --bodnotbod 02:10, 20 July 2007 (UTC)


 * I added a paragraph related to this in the Religious Observances section. It has been my experience that sporting events were deliberately scheduled (including with the advent of girls sports) to not be on a Wednesday, so they wouldn't interfere with church events (generally a more intimate service or a Bible study).  I'm not sure if this holds with larger schools that have more teams (wrestling, swimming, etc.) but it was definitely the case in rural schools.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Nerfer (talk • contribs) 21:34, 2 October 2008 (UTC)

"According to the Hebrew bible"
I contest the use of the word Wednesday in the frase "...According to the Hebrew Bible, Wednesday is the day when the Sun and Moon were created..." This formulation presumes that the writers of the hebrew bible called a day of the week "Wednesday", and that is definitely not the case. Also it is frased God created the sun and moon on the fourth day of the week. This should be the wording, but lets not come into that on this page, since Sunday is not always known as the day of rest. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 130.225.235.145 (talk) 17:32, 17 April 2007 (UTC).
 * According to the Hebrew Bible, Friday night to Sat. night is the Sabbath, so the week begins on Sunday (well, Saturday, after sundown). So within the context of the Hebrew Bible, Wednesday is the 4th day of creation and the 4th day of the week. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Nerfer (talk • contribs) 22:00, 2 October 2008 (UTC)

Miðvikudagur
I fixed the reference to the Icelandic Miðvikudagur, as it used it in the wrong grammar case, using genitive instead of nominative as it should be when referenced in other languages. --Stalfur 13:19, 7 May 2007 (UTC)

Revamped Monday thru Thursday
I sincerely hope I haven't treaded on anyone's toes by restructuring these pages, but there really wasn't any consistency among them, and some pages looked awful messy. Of course feel free to revert or edit what I've changed. Unfortunately I never haver had time to do Friday to Sunday. Annatto (talk) 19:16, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

"Eastern languages" unclear
The Religious Observances section has the sentence "Most eastern languages also use a name with this meaning, for much the same reason." What "eastern" languages is this referring to? --ian (talk) 14:16, 24 September 2008 (UTC)

pronunciation
The trisyllabic pronunciation is British per Webster's, an American dictionary. It isn't listed in OED2. Are we okay with it? kwami (talk) 01:17, 12 February 2010 (UTC)


 * The old-fashioned pronunciation is often so clipped that it certainly sounds disyllabic.  Perhaps it's my imagination, but there seems to be an example here, at 0:23: (youtube). Lfh (talk) 11:18, 13 February 2010 (UTC)
 * That said, my old Chambers gives it as three syllables: "wed'-nz-di". Lfh (talk) 11:25, 13 February 2010 (UTC)


 * I hear a [d] in that clip, but as [wendz.di], which is more-or-less how I pronounce it. Hard to be certain, though.


 * Took a look at the sound file. Can't see a [d], but if it's there, it's after the [n]. kwami (talk) 11:47, 13 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Hmm. The Wiktionary UK clip is the modern pron, with, so that's little help.  Whether the pron with both /d/'s has two or three syllables is probably beyond us to decide for ourselves, but it certainly exists, and I can provide an (albeit old) printed reference for three syllables.  Interestingly, the O.P. on your talk page said he had never seen it documented as anything other than two, so hopefully he can give a reference for that and then we will have all the bases covered. Lfh (talk) 12:44, 13 February 2010 (UTC)

Gregorian calendar
For a discussion on the claim about the Gregorian calendar that I keep deleting, see Talk:Monday. --  Dr Greg   talk  12:57, 11 September 2012 (UTC)

Wōden not much mentioned
24.215.188.243 (talk) 16:08, 21 May 2014 (UTC)

Imprecise definition.
It is precise, but not immediately informative for most. Most people would expect to have it defined in terms of a number, just like months are ( e.g., January ).
 * Perhaps this is true, but "most people" will then quickly become confused since, unlike the months of the year, there is no universally accepted day that starts the week. Some calendars begin the week with Sunday, others with Monday, and I believe there is even one in minority use that begins the week on Wednesday. On the other hand, today is Wednesday, 29 July. Should Wednesday therefore be defined (precisely) as the day that falls on 29 July 2015?—Jerome Kohl (talk) 16:20, 29 July 2015 (UTC)

Viking Invasions?
I have changed this passage:

The name is derived from Old English Wōdnesdæg and Middle English Wednesdei, "day of Woden", reflecting the Viking invasions of the British Isles and subsequent effect on the language there

to this;

The name is derived from Old English Wōdnesdæg and Middle English Wednesdei, "day of Woden", reflecting the pre-Christian religion practiced by the Anglo-Saxons

People seem to forget that the Anglo Saxons originally worshiped the same gods as the vikings, and the Anglo Saxons obviously had a far greater influence on the language (it is their own language!) than the vikings did. Woden is the Anglo Saxon name for the god, not the viking one. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.179.21.29 (talk) 07:51, 15 January 2017 (UTC)

Hump Day
Is it necessary to add about the Hump Day meme? Wednesday is known as hump day as it is in the middle of the week. It is also a name of a film from 2009. I think 2009. Cwater1 (talk) 01:03, 19 December 2022 (UTC)