Fuel for Thought

Pick Up On Mars, Deliver On Jupiter

Many of us have done this, you go pick up a load on Mars and then deliver on Jupiter or maybe even Mercury or Venus. 

While you may have done it, maybe you just didn’t know it.

Have you ever wondered where the names of the week come from? Who decided on the names?

Monday - Moon, from the Old English “Mōnandæg”, named after Máni, the Norse moon god.

Tuesday - Mars, from the Old English “Tīwesdæg”, named after Tiw or Tyr, a Norse god of war.

Wednesday - Mercury, from the Old English “Wōdnesdæg”, named after Odin (or Wōden in English), a Norse god that guides souls after death.

Thursday - Jupiter, from the Old English “thūnresdæg”, named after Thunor or Thor, the Norse god of storms, lightning and thunder.

Friday - Venus, from the Old English “Frīgedæg”, named after Frigg or Freya, a Norse goddess representing love, beauty and fertility.

Saturday - Saturn, from the Anglo-Saxon word “Sæturnesdæg”, which is still named after the Roman god Saturn since the Norse and Germanic people did not give it a new name.

 

Sunday - Sun, from the Old English “Sunnandæg", named after the Norse goddess Sol.

Note: Yes, the Romans considered the sun and moon as planets.

The Sumerians are credited with first thinking of the Moon cycles for use in determining a month of time. The Babylonians then divided a month into weeks by observing the seven visible planets’ movements that they were able to observe at the time. Then the Romans gave the planets their names after the Roman Gods of the time. Prior to this, the Romans used an eight day calendar in which they used A-H for each day. Then the Germanic people named the days after their deities which is where we get many of our modern times English weekday names.

So as you can see, you have probably loaded on Mars and delivered on Jupiter!

See you down the road,

Greg