Thor's Day

Happy Thor’s Day to all who celebrate!

What’s that? You’re saying nobody celebrates the day dedicated to the Norse god of thunder?

Thor’s Day came from a marriage of Germanic religious traditions and Roman organization and tradition. All people reading this have probably heard of Thor, who wasn’t only perceived as the god of thunder and lightning, but also represented fertility and strength, and the protection of all humankind.

The Marvel comics adaptations have fictionalized a great many things, but they get a lot right, too. Thor really is the son of Odin, who is like the king of the gods. Thor will often face off against the likes of hill giants or other threats against humanity, but he’s also a bit temperamental.

He was significant in Norse mythology, to be sure, but it’s not like he got his own day or anything. That sort of thing was more the purview of the Roman Empire. Their favorite god was called Jupiter (Iuppiter in the classic Latin spelling), and Jupiter was just like Thor in several notable ways.

The more the Germanic people heard about Jupiter, the more they believed the Romans were probably talking about Thor. Both gods were ridiculously strong, and both hurled thunderbolts at their enemies.

Roman religious beliefs weren’t the only idea spreading to the north. The Germanic people also began to adopt Roman ideas about days of the week, dividing them into seven days for easy, universal trade. Jupiter’s day was celebrated every week in Rome, and Thor’s Day came to be celebrated in the colder north.

Linguistic evolution takes care of the rest of the story. The Norse called their day Þunresdæg, pronounced something like thoon-res-day. The rest was taken care of by people saying the words in a more fluid manner, and with a pronunciation that sounded good to English speaking ears.

Now, virtually every culture in the world today uses that Roman seven day week, but not everyone uses the same names for the days. Thor’s Day makes sense to us, so Thursday came to be, and it really stuck!

For the French, jeudi is their fifth day. This derives from the Latin dies Jovis—day of Jupiter. Likewise, both Italian and Spanish hearken back to Jupiter: giovedì and jueves, respectively, both keep the name-day concept alive.

Portuguese offers a stark difference, with their fifth day being (wait for it) quinta-fierra, or “fifth day.” I strongly suspect this was a case of schismogenesis, where the Portuguese really, really wanted to differentiate themselves from their surrounding neighbors, especially the Spanish. The Christian church also offered a great deal of pressure to get rid of any pagan references, and that actually ended up happening in Portugal alone.

So, happy Thor’s Day if you’re American, English, Dutch, or German (among others). Happy Jupiter’s Day to all my friends in France, Spain, and Italy.

Portuguese and Brazilian friends, happy day five! You do you.