Things You Thought You Knew – Where the Sun Don’t Shine
StarTalk Radio
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The Origin of the Names for the Days of the Week
The classical planets of antiquity, which are all the objects that moved against the background stars, were called planetes, which is where we get the word planet. The seven days of the week are named after the gods that oversaw those days in Greek and Roman mythologies, as well as Norse mythologies. For example, Thursday is named after Thor, who wields the lightning bolt, while Jupiter is the Roman counterpart of Zeus. In romance languages, Thursday is named after Jupiter. The point is that all of these objects in the sky are always in a line, and this is how the names for the days of the week originated.
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