Wednesday

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Wednesday

For other uses, see Wednesday (disambiguation)
Wednesday (disambiguation)

Wednesday is the day of the week between Tuesday and Thursday.Wednesday may also refer to*Wednesday , 1970s Canadian pop group*A Wednesday, 2008 Hindi film...
.

Wednesday is a day of the week in the Gregorian calendar

Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was first proposed by the Calabrian doctor Aloysius Lilius, and decreed by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom it was named, on 24 February 1582 by the papal bull Inter gravissimas....
. According to international standard ISO 8601

ISO 8601

ISO 8601 is an international standard for calendar date and time representations issued by the International Organization for Standardization . Specifically, the standard is titled "Data elements and interchange formats ? Information interchange ? Representation of dates and times"....
, it is the third day of the week.

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Georg Von Rosen Oden Som Vandringsman, 1886 (odin, the Wanderer)

Wednesday is a day of the week in the Gregorian calendar

Gregorian calendar

ISO 8601

Tuesday

Tuesday is a day of the week in the Gregorian calendar. According to the international standard ISO 8601, it is the second day of the week....
and Thursday

Thursday

File:Thor.jpgThursday is the fourth day of the week according to the Judeo-Christian calendar and the ISO 8601 international standard adopted in most western countries....
.

Origins of the name

See Week-day names for more on naming conventions.

The name comes from the Middle English

Middle English

Middle English is the name given by historical linguistics to the diverse forms of the English language spoken between the Norman conquest of England of 1066 and about 1470, when the #Chancery Standard, a form of London-based English, began to become widespread, a process aided by the introduction of the printing press into England by William...
Wednes dei, which is from Old English language

Old English language

Old English is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written in parts of what are now England and south-eastern Scotland between the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century....
Wednes dæg, meaning the day of the English

Norse mythology

Norse, Viking or Scandinavian mythology comprises the beliefs, myths and legends of the Norse paganism of the North Germanic language people, including those who settled on Faroe Islands and Iceland, where most of the written sources for Norse mythology were assembled....
god Woden

Woden

Woden is a god in Anglo-Saxon paganism, together with Norse Odin representing a development of a Proto-Germanic god, *Wodanaz. Other West Germanic forms of the name include Old High German Wuotan, Low German and Dutch language Wodan....
(Wodan) who was a god of the Anglo-Saxons

Anglo-Saxons

Anglo-Saxons is the term usually used to describe the invading tribes in the south and east of Great Britain starting from the early 5th century AD, and their creation of the English nation, lasting until the Norman conquest of England of 1066....
in England

England

Old Norse

Old Norse is a North Germanic languages that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
Oðinsdagr ("Odin's

Odin

Odin , is considered the chief ?sir in Norse paganism. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxons Woden and the Old High German Wotan, it is descended from Proto-Germanic *Wodanaz or *Wodanaz....
day"), which is an early translation of the Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
dies Mercurii ("Mercury's day"), and reflects the widespread association of Woden with Mercury going back to Tacitus

Tacitus

Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a Roman Senate and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories —examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those that reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors....
.

In Romance languages

Romance languages

The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European languages comprising all the languages that descend from Latin language, the language of ancient Rome....
it is derived from the name of the Roman god Mercury

Mercury (mythology)

In Roman mythology, Mercury was a messenger, and a god of trade, profit and commerce, the son of Maia Maiestas, also known as Ops, the Roman version of Cronus, and Jupiter ....
: mercredi (French), mercoledì (Italian), miércoles (Spanish), miercuri (Romanian), dimecres (Catalan), dies Mercurii (Latin). Similarly, in most of the Indian Languages the name for Wednesday, Buddhavar is derived from the Vedic

Vedic Sanskrit

Vedic Sanskrit is an Old Indic language. It is the language of the Vedas, the oldest shruti texts of Hinduism, compiled over the period of the mid 2nd to mid 1st millennium BC....
name for Mercury, Buddha. Buddh is also used in Urdu

Urdu

Urdu is a Central_Indo-Aryan_languages#Central_Zone_.28Madhya_or_Hindi.29 Indo-Aryan languages of the Indo-Iranian languages, belonging to the Indo-European languages family of languages....
. Russian

Russian language

Russian is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages, and the largest native language in Europe....
does not use pagan names but instead uses sredá, meaning "middle," similar to the German

German language

Portuguese language

Portuguese is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia and Portugal. It is derived from the Latin language spoken by the Romanization Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula around 2000 years ago....
uses the word quarta-feira, meaning "fourth day" (literally it means "fourth fair", that comes from the latin "feria quarta" - "feria" original meaning is "celebration" - it was so the fourth day of celebration of the week, because all days were days of celebrating God (the name was created by Pope Silvester I, christian leader between 314-335AD). While in Greek the word is Tetarti(?et??t?) meaning simply "fourth." Similarly, Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages languages such as Hebrew language and Aramaic language....
?????? means "fourth" and Persian

Persian language

Saturday

File:Polidoro da Caravaggio - Saturnus-thumb.jpgSaturday is the day of the week between Friday and Sunday. Saturday is the seventh day of the week....
."

Position in the week

When Sunday is taken as the first of every week, the day in the middle of each week is Wednesday. Arising from this, the German

German language

German is a West Germanic languages, thus related to and classified alongside English language and Dutch language. It is one of the world's world language and the most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union....
name for Wednesday has been Mittwoch (literally: "mid-week") since the 10th Century, having displaced the former name: Wodanstag ("Wodan's day"). The Finnish

Finnish language

Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by Finnish people outside of Finland. It is one of the official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden....
name is similar: Keskiviikko (literally: "middle of the week") as is the Icelandic

Icelandic language

Icelandic is a North Germanic languages, the language of Iceland. Its closest relative is Faroese language and Norwegian dialects such as Telemark dialect and Sognam?l....
name: Miðvikudagur ("Mid-week day"). Wednesday is "sereda" in Ukrainian, which has the same word base as "seredyna", which is translated as "middle". In Russian Wednesday is "sreda" / "?????" from "sred'" / "?????" almost identical to Ukrainian meaning the same thing - in the middle.

Wednesday is also in the middle of the common Western 5-day workweek

Workweek

The legal workweek varies from nation to nation. The weekend is a part of the week usually lasting one or two days in which most paid workers do not work....
that starts on Monday and finishes on Friday.

Religious observances

Quakers

Religious Society of Friends

The Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as the Quakers, was founded in England in the 17th century as a Christian denomination by people who were dissatisfied with the existing denominations and sects of Christianity....
traditionally refer to Wednesday as "Fourth Day", eschewing the pagan

Paganism

Paganism is the blanket term given to describe religions and spiritual practices of pre-Christian Europe, and by extension a term for polytheistic?traditions or folk religion?worldwide seen from a Western or Christian viewpoint....
origin of the name "Wednesday". Most eastern languages also use a name with this meaning, for much the same reason.

The Eastern Orthodox Church

Eastern Orthodox Church

The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest single Christian communion in the world with an estimated 225 million members worldwide. It is considered by its adherents to be the Four Marks of the Church established by Jesus Christ and his Apostles nearly 2000 years ago....
observe Wednesday (as well as Friday) as a fast day

Fast Day

A Fast Day is a day of religious fasting observed at various periods by different religious groups, Jewish, Christian, and other, sometimes with the authority of government....
throughout the year (with the exception of several fast-free periods during the year). Fasting on Wednesday and Fridays entails abstinence

Abstinence

Abstinence is a voluntary restraint from indulging a desire or appetite for certain bodily activities that are widely experienced as giving pleasure....
from meat

Meat

In modern English usage, meat most often refers to animal biological tissue used as food, mostly skeletal muscle and associated fat, but it may also refer to offal, including livers, skin, brains, bone marrow, kidneys, in some countries lungs, and a variety of other internal organs as well as blood....
or meat products (i.e., four-footed animals), poultry

Poultry

Poultry is the category of domesticated birds which some people keep for the purpose of collecting their egg , or kill for their meat and/or feathers....
and dairy products. Unless a feast day occurs on a Friday, the Orthodox also abstain from fish

Fish

A fish is any marine biology vertebrate animal that is typically ectothermic , covered with scale , and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins....
, from using oil in their cooking and from alcoholic beverages (there is some debate over whether abstention from oil involves all cooking oil

Cooking oil

Cooking oil is purified fat of plant origin, which is liquid at room temperature.Some of the many different kinds of edible Vegetable fats and oilss include: olive oil, palm oil, soybean oil, canola oil, pumpkin seed oil, corn oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, peanut oil, grape seed oil, sesame oil, argan oil and rice bran oil....
or only olive oil

Olive oil

Olive oil is a fruit oil obtained from the olive , a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. The wild olive tree originated in Anatolia and spread from there as far as southern Africa, Australia, Japan and China....
). For the Orthodox, Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the year commemorate the Crucifixion of Christ and the Theotokos

Theotokos

Theotokos is a title of Mary, the mother of Jesus used especially in the Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Churches....
(Mother of God), especially as she stood by the foot of the cross. There are hymns in the Octoekhos

Octoechos (liturgy)

The Octoechos —literally, the book "of the Eight Tones"—contains an eight-week cycle, providing texts to be chanted for every day at Vespers, Matins, the Divine Liturgy, Compline and the Midnight Office....
which reflect this liturgically. These include special Theotokia
Theotokion

A Theotokion is a hymn to the Theotokos , which is read or chanted during the Divine Services of the Eastern Orthodox Church and Eastern Catholic Churches churches....
(hymn

Hymn

A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity/deities, a prominent figure or an epic tale....
s to the Mother of God) called Stavrotheotokia ("Cross-Theotokia"). The dismissal

Dismissal

Dismissal or dismissed may refer to:Dismissal*In litigation, a dismissal the result of a successful motion to dismiss. See motion ....
at the end of services on Wednesday begins with these words: "May Christ our true God, through the power of the precious and life-giving cross...."

Many Protestant churches also have services or a Bible study on Wednesday. Some U.S. high schools have had a custom of scheduling sporting events on Monday and Thursday for girls' games, Tuesday and Friday for boys' games, and leave Wednesday evenings free partially for this reason.

According to the Hebrew Bible

Hebrew Bible

The term Hebrew Bible is a generic reference to those books of the Bible originally written mostly in Biblical Hebrew with some Biblical Aramaic....
, Wednesday is the day when the Sun

Sun

The Sun , a G V star, is the star at the center of the Solar System. The Earth and other matter orbit the Sun, which by itself accounts for about 98.6% of the Solar System's mass....
and Moon

Moon

The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite and the List of natural satellites by diameter satellite in the Solar System. The average centre-to-centre distance from the Earth to the Moon is km, about thirty times the diameter of the Earth....
were created.

Cultural references

An American English

American English

PhonologyIn many ways, compared to English language in England, North American English is conservative in its phonology. Some distinctive accents can be found on the East Coast of the United States , partly because these areas were in contact with England, and imitated prestigious varieties of English English at a time when those varieties we...
idiom

Idiom

An idiom is a phrase whose meaning cannot be determined by the literal definition of the phrase itself, but refers instead to a figurative language meaning that is known only through common use....
for Wednesday is "hump day" a reference to making it through to the middle of the work week as getting "over the hump."

In the folk rhyme

Monday's Child

Monday's Child is one of many fortune-telling songs, popular as nursery rhymes for children. It is supposed to tell a child's character or future based on the day they were born....
, "Wednesday's child is full of woe". In another rhyme reciting the days of the week, Solomon Grundy

Solomon Grundy

"Solomon Grundy" is a 19th century children's nursery rhyme, and was presented by James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps in 1842. The poem is essentially a riddle in which the life of Solomon Grundy appears to take place in the process of a single week, the answer being that each day's events represent the All the world's a stage....
was 'Married on Wednesday.' In Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day
Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day

Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day is an animated featurette based on the last two chapters of Winnie-the-Pooh and the second, eighth, and ninth chapters of The House at Pooh Corner, both by A....
, the disagreeable nature of the weather is attributed to it being "Winds-Day" (a play on "Wednesday"). In Richard Brautigan

Richard Brautigan

Richard Gary Brautigan was a 20th century American writer. His novels and stories often have to do with black comedy, parody, satire, and Zen Buddhism....
's In Watermelon Sugar
In Watermelon Sugar

In Watermelon Sugar is a novella written by Richard Brautigan published in 1968. It is a tale of a commune organized around a central gathering house which is named "iDEATH"....
Wednesday is the day when the sun shines grey.

Wednesday is used as a character's first or last name in several narrative works, including Thursday's fictions by Richard James Allen

Richard James Allen

Richard James Allen is a contemporary Australian poet, dancer and filmmaker. The former Artistic Director of the Poets Union Inc, and founding director of the , Richard was Co-Artistic Director with Karen Pearlman of That Was Fast and Tasdance , and now at The Physical TV Company ....
, Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman

Neil Richard Gaiman is an England author of science fiction and fantasy short stories and novels, graphic novels, comics, and films. His notable works include The Sandman comic series, Stardust , American Gods and Coraline....
's novel American Gods
American Gods

American Gods is a novel by Neil Gaiman. The novel is a blend of Americana, fantasy, and various strands of ancient and modern mythology, all centering on a mysterious and taciturn protagonist, Shadow....
, and the 60's television show, The Addams Family
The Addams Family (TV series)

The Addams Family is an United States television series based on the characters in Charles Addams' The Addams Family. The 30-minute series was shot in black-and-white and aired for two seasons in 64 installments on American Broadcasting Company from September 18, 1964 to April 8, 1966....
.

In the 1945 John Steinbeck

John Steinbeck

John Ernst Steinbeck III was an American literature. He wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath, published in 1939 and the novella Of Mice and Men, published in 1937....
novel Sweet Thursday
Sweet Thursday

Sweet Thursday is a 1954 novel by John Steinbeck. It is a sequel to Cannery Row and set in the years after the end of World War II. According to the author, "Sweet Thursday" is the day after Lousy Wednesday and the day before Waiting Friday....
, the titular day is preceded by "Lousy Wednesday".

A song titled "Wednesday's Song" is on the 2004 album Shadows Collide with People

Shadows Collide with People

Shadows Collide with People is the fourth studio album by John Frusciante, released February 24, 2004. The album was written during the recording of By the Way, and is widely regarded as his most accessible work, featuring a mix of guitar-driven alternative rock, folk music ballads, and electronica....
by John Frusciante

John Frusciante

John Anthony Frusciante is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the guitarist of the alternative rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, with whom he has recorded five studio albums....
, "Wednesday" is the title of a song on musician Tori Amos

Tori Amos

Tori Amos is a pianist and singer-songwriter of dual United Kingdom and United States citizenship. She is married to England sound engineer Mark Hawley, with whom she has one child, Natashya "Tash" L?rien Hawley, born on September 5, 2000....
' "Scarlet's Walk

Scarlet's Walk

Scarlet's Walk is the seventh album released in singer-songwriter Tori Amos' solo career. The 18-track concept album details the cross-country travels of Scarlet, a character loosely based on Amos, as well as the concept of America post-September 11, 2001 attacks....
" album, and "Wednesday Mayday" is a piece of music from band Awaken on their album Tales Of Acid Ice Cream

Tales Of Acid Ice Cream

Tales of Acid Ice Cream is the first album of music project Awaken , released in 1996....
in 1996.

According to the Thai

Thailand

The Kingdom of Thailand is an independent country that lies in the heart of Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Laos and Myanmar, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the west by the Andaman Sea and Myanmar....
solar calendar

Thai solar calendar

The Thai solar calendar, Suriyakati , has been the official and prevalent calendar in Thailand since it was adopted by King Chulalongkorn in 1888, although the Western calendar year is sometimes used in business, and quite often in banking....
, the color associated with Wednesday is green.

Sheffield Wednesday Football Club are a professional football club based in Sheffield

Sheffield

Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom and metropolitan borough in South Yorkshire, England. It is so named because of its origins in a field on the River Sheaf that runs through the city....
, Yorkshire

Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a Historic counties of England of northern England and the largest in Great Britain. Because of its great size, over time functions were increasingly undertaken by its subdivisions, which have been subject to History of local government in Yorkshire....
, England

England

Astrology

The astrological sign

Astrology

Astrology is a group of systems, traditions, and beliefs which hold that the relative positions of astronomical object and related details can provide useful information about personality, human affairs, and other terrestrial matters....
of the planet Mercury

Mercury (planet)

Mercury is the innermost and smallest planet in the Solar System, orbiting the Sun once every 88 days. The orbit of Mercury has the highest Orbital eccentricity of all the Solar System planets, and it has the smallest axial tilt....
represents Wednesday -- Dies Mercurii to the Romans, with similar names in Latin-derived languages, such as the French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
Mercredi and the Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish or Castilian is a Romance languages that originated in northern Spain, and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile and evolved into the principal language of government and trade....
Miércoles. In English, this became "Woden's Day", since the Roman god Mercury

Mercury (mythology)

In Roman mythology, Mercury was a messenger, and a god of trade, profit and commerce, the son of Maia Maiestas, also known as Ops, the Roman version of Cronus, and Jupiter ....
was identified with Woden in northern Europe

Northern Europe

Northern Europe is the northern part or region of Europe. The United Nations defines Northern Europe as including the following countries and dependent regions:...
.

Named days

Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday

In the Western Christianity calendar, Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent and occurs forty-six days before Easter. It falls on a different date each year, because it is dependent on the Computus; it can occur as early as February 4 or as late as March 10....
, the first day of Roman Catholic Lent
Lent

Lent, in Christianity, is the period of the liturgical year leading up to Easter. Conventionally it is described as being forty days long, though different Christian denominations calculate the forty days differently....
, occurs forty days before Easter
Easter

Easter is the most important religious feast in the Christianity liturgical year.Christians believe that Jesus was Resurrection of Jesus from the dead three days after his Crucifixion of Jesus, and celebrate this resurrection on Easter Day or Easter Sunday , two days after Good Friday....
, not counting Sundays.
Spy Wednesday is an old name given to the Wednesday immediately preceding Easter
Easter

Easter is the most important religious feast in the Christianity liturgical year.Christians believe that Jesus was Resurrection of Jesus from the dead three days after his Crucifixion of Jesus, and celebrate this resurrection on Easter Day or Easter Sunday , two days after Good Friday....
, in allusion to the betrayal of Jesus
Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth , also known as Jesus Christ, is the central figure of Christianity and is revered by most Christian churches as the Son of God and the Incarnation ....
by Judas Iscariot
Judas Iscariot

'Judas Iscariot', "Yehuda" was, according to the New Testament, one of the twelve original Twelve Apostles of Jesus. Among the twelve, he was apparently designated to keep account of the "accountant" , but he is most traditionally known for his role in Jesus' betrayal into the hands of Roman authorities....
.