Let’s continue our dive into the names for days of the week! In the case of Thursday, it at once follows the same pattern, naming the day after the god whose celestial body’s hour was the first hour of the day in the Neo-Babylonion empire (days were broken up into seven hours, so each day began with a new hour), but also again mixed in is some Norse mythology.
See, in those ancient calendars, this fifth day of the week was named for Zeus or, by Roman days, Jupiter. If you’re at all familiar with ancient mythology, you may remember that Zeus/Jupiter is usually denoted with lightning bolts in his hand. So who in Germanic/Norse mythology would be the equivalent?
Why, your friendly neighborhood Thor, of course!
So our English translation and eventual contraction of “Thor’s Day” is Thursday. (Side note: thunder is actually also a direct borrow from Thor!)
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Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. Having successfully launched two homeschool grads, she now spends her time writing fiction, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years, as well as a fantasy series and contemporary mysteries and romances. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary. 
