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Dominique Padurano's avatar

So interesting! Once again, Mike Bergin's sent me down an etymological rabbit hole -- this time, to uncover the roots of the Italian word for "Friday," "venerdì." Seeing the first part mean worship and the second, of course, similar to "day," I thought at first it might be the influence of Islam (Muslims worship on Fridays) on Italy, where medieval Muslims and Christians traded. No such multicultural luck. It seems the root of "venerdì" is much older, going all the way back to "pagan" times when Venus was venerated -- and her day was Friday! See https://www.wordsense.eu/venerdì/ . Thanks, Mike, for inspiring me to learn the other Greco-Roman gods who inspired the names of the days in Latin and, eventually, Italian (https://www.wordsense.eu/dies_Veneris/#Latin)! I've spoken Romance languages for 35 years and never learned this before!!!

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