Thursday
Is there anyone who doesn’t know that Thursday is Thor’s Day?
Thursday was named after the Norse thunderer because, in the minds of the Anglo-Saxons and many other learned people of the late first millennium, Thor was equated with Jupiter, the Roman thunderer. The Roman name for Thursday was Jovis deis, “Day of Jupiter”, so when the Anglo-Saxons adopted the Roman (and Christian) seven-day week, Þurresdæg (Thor’s Day) was a logical choice — even though Thor and Jupiter have almost nothing in common beyond their knack for lightning.
Thor’s name may originally have been imitative of thunder (originally Proto-Germanic thunraz), and energetically it indicates a rounded, earthy strength surging along a difficult path. The “Thur” in Thursday is more relaxed, roomy, and expansive, but still powerfully channeled.
