Knowledge of any modern language is impossible without knowledge of basic words and phrases. These include the days of the week, the names of which are widely used and necessarily have equivalents in all languages of the world. When planning a trip to one of the most romantic countries in the world - Italy - knowing how the days of the week are called in Italian will become a prerequisite.
Name of the days of the week in the language of the inhabitants of Italy: origin
The origin of the names of the days of the week in Italian is unusual and entertaining. As in all Romance languages, the days of the week in the official language of Italy were originally formed from the names of the planets and objects of the solar system of planets.
Monday is named after Luna. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday bear names that simultaneously belong to both planets and deities in Roman mythology:
- Marte - god of war;
- Mercurio - god of trade and profit;
- Giove - the supreme deity who owns the supremepower;
- Venere - goddess of love, beauty, prosperity and fertility.
Thus, the first day of the week owes its name to the moon - the satellite of the Earth, and the four weekdays following it are named after four of the five planets of the solar system that can be seen with the naked eye: Mars, Mercury, Jupiter and Venus.
The original Latin names for Saturday and Sunday also came from the names of objects in the Solar System - the Sun itself and the planet Saturn. Saturday was called Saturno (Saturn), and Sunday - Sole (Sun). The weekend names were later replaced by religious alternative names. Saturno has changed to Sabato, a name that comes from the Hebrew word shabbath, a day of rest. Sole has been replaced with Domenica or Lord's Day.
Italian days of the week: spelling and pronunciation
Pronunciation of Italian words in most cases coincides with their spelling. But still, the lessons of Italian, like most foreign languages, become much clearer if there is a transcription for the words and phrases being studied.
- Lunedi [lunedI] - Monday.
- Martedi [martedI] - Tuesday.
- Mercoledi [MercoledI] - Wednesday.
- Giovedi [jovedi] - Thursday.
- Venerdi [venerdi] - Friday.
- Sabato [sabato] - Saturday.
- Domenica [Enika's house] - Sunday.
