Interpretatio germanica
Interpretatio germanica is the practice by the Germanic peoples of identifying Roman gods with the names of Germanic deities. According to University of Bonn philologist Rudolf Simek, this occurred around the 1st century AD, when both cultures came into closer contact.
Names of days of the week
Some evidence for interpretatio germanica exists in the Germanic translations of the Roman names for the days of the week from Roman deities into names of approximately equivalent Germanic deities:- Sunday, the day of Sunnǭ, the sun, was earlier the day of Sol, the sun
- Monday, the day of Mēnô, the moon, was earlier the day of Luna, the moon
- Tuesday, the day of Tīwaz, was earlier the day of Mars, god of war
- Wednesday, the day of Wōdanaz, was earlier the day of Mercury, god of travelers and eloquence
- Thursday, the day of Þunraz, was earlier the day of Jupiter, god of thunder. The name is derived from Old English þunresdæg and Middle English Thuresday, meaning "Thor's Day", after the Norse god of Thunder, Thor. The hammer-wielding Þunraz may elsewhere appear identified with the club-wielding Hercules.
- Friday, the day of Frijjō, was earlier the day of Venus, goddess of love
The one exception to the use of Germanic gods is Saturday, which retains the name of a foreign god, possibly because there was no obvious Germanic substitute.
The name of the day is associated with Saturn in many West Germanic languages; such as the English "Saturday", the West Frisian Saterdei, the Low German Saterdag, and the Dutch zaterdag all meaning Saturn's day.