Editor's Corner

I have a particular fondness for the word Friday. I’m sure we all like it because it usually means the weekend is ahead. But I also like it because it reminds me of my niece, Freya. You’ll see why in just a minute. From Dictionary.com:

The first records of the word Friday come from before 1000. It comes from the Old English Frīgedæg, meaning “Freya‘s day.” In Latin, the name for the day we call Friday is dies Veneris, meaning “Venus’s day,” referring to the Roman goddess of love. However, the name of the day in many languages is instead based on the name of one of two goddesses from Norse mythology, either the love goddess Freya or chief goddess Frigg (or Frigga), wife of Odin.

In Islam, Friday is a day of worship.

In Christianity, Good Friday is the Friday before Easter that marks the death of Jesus.

In U.S. history, Black Friday refers to September 24, 1869, the date of a financial panic sparked by gold speculators. The term Black Friday is more commonly known as the informal name for the day after Thanksgiving, on which retailers offer special sales to mark the start of the holiday shopping season.

The date Friday the 13th is popularly associated with superstitions about bad luck or evil occurrences.

I’m returning to the original table I made for this, because there is one language that makes a change on their meaning for this day. While English and the Romance languages (minus Portuguese) named Friday after the goddess of love in their cultures, the Greek name has made a change. As I mentioned before, while the Ancient Greeks followed the days named after the sun, moon, and gods, the modern Greeks changed the names to God’s Day, and then “second,” “third,” etc. Once they get to Friday, they name it Παρασκευή (Paraskeví), which means “preparation.” Specifically, it means preparation for the Sabbath. Once again, we return to the religious naming of the days (like Sunday, in all of the languages we’ve looked at, except English).

Now, it’s time for us to prepare for the Sabbath: our last day of the seven!

Παρασκευή

Paraskeví

Σάββατο

Sávvato

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

Pronouns: she/her | (619) 542-6773 | jackhenry.com

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