Why English Capitalizes Days of the Week While Spanish Forbids It
By Alexander Ross
The names themselves reflect two completely different waves of mythological translation across Europe. During the expansion of the Roman Empire, Mediterranean societies structured their seven-day week around planetary bodies, which they tied directly to classical gods: the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn. Romance languages absorbed this system with minimal interruption. Spanish preserved these roots clearly: martes traces to Mars, miércoles to Mercury, jueves to Jupiter, and viernes to Venus. Sábado and domingo were later modified by Christian liturgy, borrowing from the Hebrew Shabbat and the Latin Dies Dominicus (the Day of the Lord).
Germanic tribes adopted the Roman seven-day framework through an interpretive process known as interpretatio germanica. Rather than borrowing Latin names outright, they swapped classical deities for their own pantheon. Mars became Tiw (yielding Tuesday). Mercury became Woden or Odin (Wednesday). Jupiter became Thor (Thursday). Venus was replaced by Frigg or Freyja (Friday). The Sun, Moon, and Saturn retained their planetary designations, establishing Sunday, Monday, and Saturday.
Because these Germanic names were understood directly as ancestral personal names, the specific day belonging to Woden or Thor, early English scribes preserved their personal, deified status. When print shops established uniform orthographic norms during the 17th and 18th centuries, those divine personal origins solidified into non-negotiable proper nouns.
Alexander Ross has covered the video game industry for a decade, writing deep dives on game design, esports tournaments, VR developments, and gaming culture.
