About half of the people in the world start their week with Sunday, and about half the people in the world (not the same half) start their week with Monday. A few people -- millions, actually, but I'm speaking relatively -- start their week with Friday or Saturday. In many languages the days are named after objects in the heavens (sun, moon), Norse deities (Tye, Odin, Thor, Frigg), or Roman deities (Mars, Mercury, Jove, Venus, Saturn) that also became the names of objects in the heavens. For example, Thursday is named after Thor, the Norse god of lightning, thunder, and storms. It becomes Donnerstag (Donner's day) in German for Donner, god of thunder. A rabbit trail here, the names of two of Santa Claus's reindeer, Donner and Blitzen, are the German words for thunder and lightning. Also, the Germans chose not to honor the Norse god Odin but to call that particular day Mittwoch (midweek) instead.
In the table below, I have begun with the commom abbreviated forms of the days of the week in English.
| English: | Mon | Tues | Wed | Thur | Fri | Sat | Sun |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Swedish: | måndag | tiesdag | onsdag | torsdag | fredag | lördag | söndag |
| French: | lundi | mardi | mercredi | jeudi | vendredi | samedi | dimanche |
| Spanish: | Lunes | Martes | Mièrcoles | Jueves | Viernes | Sàbado | Domingo |
| German: | Montag | Dienstag | Mittwoch | Donnerstag | Freitag | Samstag | Sonntag |
| Italian: | lunedi | martedi | mercoledi | giovedi | venerdi | sabato | domenica |
In Albanian, the days of the week are E hënë, E martë, E mërkurë, E enjte, E premte, E shtunë, and E diel. Mars and Mercury are discernible, but something else has happened as well.
In Polish, the days of the week are poniedziałek, wtorek, środa, czwąrtek, piatek, sobota, and niedziela.
In Hawaiian, the days of the week are Po'akahi, Po'alua, Po'akolu, Po'aha, Po'alima, Po'aono, and Lapule.
In Swahili, the days of the week are Jumamosi, Jumapili, Jumatatu, Jumanne, Jumatano, Alhamisi, and Ijumaa.
Did you know there are three systems, all acceptable, for saying "Monday" in Mandarin Chinese? Well, there are. Using Pinyin (romanization of the Mandarin ideographs), they are xīngqī yī, zhōu yī, and libài yī. If in those three phrases you were to replace yī with èr, sān, sì, wù, and liù you would have just indicated three ways to say Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, respectively, in Mandarin Chinese. It is interesting to note that Mandarin does not honor any deity at all; what one actually says is "Day 1" through "Day 6".
In each of the three acceptable ways of indicating days of the week in Mandarin (xīngqī, zhōu, libài) there are two words, neither of which means 7, that one can use to indicate Sunday: rì and tiān. It is therefore entirely accurate and within reason, when you consider that 3 × 2 = 6, to conclude that trying to learn Mandarin Chinese will knock you six ways from Sunday.
