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The article refers to the weekday. See also Wednesday (disambiguation) Wednesday is considered either the third or the fourth day of the week, between Tuesday and Thursday. The name comes from the Middle English Wednes dei, which is from Old English Wodnes dæg, meaning the day of the Germanic god Woden who was a god of the Anglo-Saxons in England until about the 7th century AD. Wodnes dæg is like the Old Norse Othinsdagr ("Odin's day"), which is an early translation of the Latin dies Mercurii ("Mercury's day"). Although Mercury (the messenger of the gods) and Woden (the king of the Germanic gods) are not equivalent in most regards, both gods guided the souls of the dead to the underworld. When Sunday is taken as the first of the week, the day in the middle of each week is Wednesday. Arising from this, the German name for Wednesday has been Mittwoch (literally: "mid-week") since the 10th Century, having displaced the former name: Wodanstag. The Finnish name is similarly practical: Keskiviikko (literally: "center of the week") as is the Icelandic name: Miðvikudags ("Mid-week day"). According to the Hebrew Bible, Wednesday is the day when the Sun and Moon were created. Wednesday is also in the middle of the common 5-day working week from Monday through Friday. However, see also Thursday and ISO 8601. In Romance languages it is derived from the name of the Roman god Mercury: mercredi (French), mercoledì (Italian), miércoles (Spanish), miercuri (Romanian), dimecres (Catalan), dies Mercurii (Latin). Similarly, the Hindi name for Wednesday, Budhvar is derived from the Vedic name for Mercury, Budh. An English language idiom for Wednesday is "hump day", a reference to making it through to the middle of the work week as getting "over the hump". It is also unofficially (and with some irony) referred to as "the peak of the week". Quakers traditionally refer to Wednesday as "Fourth Day", eschewing the pagan origin of the name "Wednesday". Most eastern languages also use a name with this meaning, for much the same reason. Faithful Orthodox Christians observe a vegetarian / fish-only fast on Wednesdays (and Fridays) in some countries.
Wednesday in popular culture In the popular rhyme, "Wednesday's Child is full of woe". The film Angel Heart includes a scene where Harry Angel refers to Wednesday as "Anything Can Happen Day," in reference to the original Mickey Mouse Club television program. The term "hump day" was coined in the 1950's in Roseville, California. Clara Holmes, an employee of the California Department of Motor Vehicles, as one of the first employees to arrive each day, was frequently called upon to update any announcements on the staff blackboard. On Wednesday of one week, since she knew the employees would be in the 'mid-week doldrums', she drew a line on the bottom of the blackboard, and in the middle of the line, she drew a hump. She labeled the left end of the line "Monday", the top of the hump was labeled "Wednesday", and the right end was labeled "Friday"; ostensibly to give other employees hope that if they could make it through Wednesday, the rest of the week was downhill. In the 19th century, Wednesday sometimes comprised of a day off from work for those in northern counties in England, particularly Yorkshire. The English Association Football team, Sheffield Wednesday was formed, according to the day on which they played their matches. The team was officially known as The Wednesday until in 1929, when under the stewardship of manager Bob Brown, the club was renamed to Sheffield Wednesday. On TV's The Addams Family, Wednesday (Lisa Loring) was the pale-skinned, black-haired daughter of Morticia and Gomez Addams. In Neil Gaiman's American Gods, the god Odin (Woden being the origin of the word Wednesday) refers to himself as Wednesday. For residents of New England, Wednesday is "Prince Spaghetti Day", as proclaimed by Lowell, Massachusetts pasta-maker The Prince Company in a long-running ad campaign (first used in 1953). Garth Nix's Drowned Wednesday happens on a Wednesday. The lead singer of The Murderdolls is called Wednesday Astrological Sign The astrological sign of the planet Mercury represents Wednesday -- Dies Mercurii to the Romans, with similar names in Latin-derived languages, such as the French Mercredi and the Spanish Miércoles. In English, this became "Woden's Day", since the Roman god Mercury was identified with Woden in northern Europe. Named days | ||||||||
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