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The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Third-day, January 21, 1868

THE DAYS OF THE WEEK.

BRO. SMITH: Will you please give in Review, at your earliest convenience, a history of when the days of the week were named, Sunday, Monday, &c., and by whom, and their signification? I have many inquiries by those reading the History of the Sabbath; and some are inclined to attribute the naming of them to the apostles. C. L. PALMER. St. Jo. Co., Mich.

The following from the Encyclopedia Americana, gives the information for which Bro. P. inquires.

“The week approaches pretty nearly to a quarter of a lunation; but this division of time has no obvious foundation in nature. It appears, notwithstanding, to have prevailed very extensively over the world from the earliest times, and, what is remarkable, the days of the week are generally named after the sun and planets, only six planets having been known to the ancients. This manner of distinguishing a series of seven days is found to be the same among the ancient Egyptians, Indians and Chinese. Still the order is not that of the distances, magnitude or brightness of the planets. The following ingenious conjecture has been adopted to account for the origin of the names and arrangement of the days of the week:—The planetary arrangement of Ptolemy was thus: 1. Saturn; 2. Jupiter; 3. Mars; 4. the Sun; 5. Venus; 6. Mercury; 7. the Moon. Each of these planets was supposed to preside successively over each hour of the twenty-four of each day, in the order above given.

In this way, Saturn would preside over the first hour of the first day, Jupiter over the second hour, Mars over the third, the Sun over the fourth, and so on. Thus the sun, presiding over the fourth, eleventh and eighteenth hours of the first day, would preside over the first hour of the second day; and, carrying on the series, the moon would preside over the first hour of the third day, Mars over the first hour of the fourth day, Mercury over the first hour of the fifth day, Jupiter over the first hour of the sixth day, and Venus over the first hour of the seventh day. Hence the names of the days yet used in the learned professions:

1. Dies Saturni, day of Saturn (Saturday). 2. Dies Solis, day of the Sun (Sunday). 3. Dies Lunæ, day of the Moon (Monday). 4. Dies Martis, day of Mars (Tuesday). 5. Dies Mercurii, day of Mercury (Wednesday). 6. Dies Jovis, day of Jupiter (Thursday). 7. Dies Veneris, day of Venus (Friday).”

The modern names of the days of the week, as shown in the parentheses, above, are simply the translations of the Latin appellations, given to the days by the ancient heathens.