Wednesday
WENZ-day · noun
Origin
Wednesday comes from Old English wōdnesdæġ, 'day of Woden,' from Proto-West Germanic *Wōdanas dag. This was a Germanic calque of Latin diēs Mercuriī and Greek hēméra Hermoû ('day of Mercury/Hermes'), since Woden was associated with those gods.
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Journey
The Old English form shifted through an i-mutated variant to Middle English Wednesday, while an older rival spelling, Wodnesdei, eventually fell out of use.
Related words
Scandinavian languages kept the god's name more visibly, as in Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian onsdag and Icelandic óðinsdagur, all pointing back to the same Woden.
More words
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