It is generally stated, on the authority of Cassius Dio, that the system of counting by weeks and weekdays was first introduced in Egypt, and that at his time, early in the third century, the Romans had adopted it, though but recently. Be this as it may, it would seem that, if Tibullus could use the name of _dies Saturni_ for Saturday, the whole system of weekdays must have been settled and known at Rome in his time. Cassius Dio tells us that the names were assigned to each day { ~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH VARIA~} { ~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH OXIA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}, by fours; or by giving the first hour of the week to Saturn, then giving one hour to each planet in succession, till the twenty-fifth hour became again the first of the next day. Both systems lead to the same result, as will be seen from the following table:--
_Planets._ _Latin._ _French._ _Sanskrit._ 1 Saturn 1 Dies Saturni Samedi (dies Saui-vara sabbati) 2 Jupiter 6 Dies Solis Dimanche Ravi-vara (dominicus) 3 Mars 4 Dies Lunæ Lundi Soma-vara 4 Sun 2 Dies Martis Mardi Bhauma-vara 5 Venus 7 Dies Mercurii Mercredi Brihaspati-vara 7 Moon 3 Dies Veneris Vendredi Sukra-vara
_Planets._ _Old Norse._ _Anglo-Saxon._ _English._ 1 Saturn 1 laugardagr sätres däg Saturday (washing day) 2 Jupiter 6 sunnadagr sunnan däg Sunday 3 Mars 4 mânadagr monan däg Monday 4 Sun 2 tysdagr tives däg Tuesday 5 Venus 7 odhinsdagr vôdenes däg Wednesday 6 Mercury 5 thôrsdagr thunores däg Thursday 7 Moon 3 friadagr frige däg Friday
_Planets._ _Old-High _Middle-High _German._ German._ German._ 1 Saturn 1 sambaztag (sunnûn samztac (sunnen Samstag âband) âbent) (Sonnabend) 2 Jupiter 6 sunnûn dag sunnen tac Sonntag 3 Mars 3 mânin tac (?) mân tac Montag 4 Sun 2 ziuwes tac (cies zies tac (zies Dienstag dac) tac) 5 Venus 7 wuotanes tac (?) mittwoch Mittwoch (mittawecha) 6 Mercury 5 donares tac donres tac Donnerstag 7 Moon 3 fria dag frîtac Freitag
After the names of the week-days had once been settled, we have no difficulty in tracing their migration towards the East and towards the West. The Hindus had their own peculiar system of reckoning days and months, but they adopted at a later time the foreign system of counting by weeks of seven days, and assigning a presiding planetary deity to each of the seven days, according to the system described above. As the Indian name of the planet Mercury was Budha, the _dies Mercurii_ was naturally called _Budha-vâra_ but never _Buddha-vâra_; and the fact that the mother of Mercury was called Maia, and the mother of Buddha Mâyâ, could, therefore, have had no bearing whatever on the name assigned to the Indian Wednesday.(56) The very Buddhists, in Ceylon, distinguish between buddha, the enlightened, and budha, wise, and call Wednesday the day of Budha, not of Buddha.(57) Whether the names of the planets were formed in India independently, or after Greek models, is difficult to settle. The name of Budha, the knowing or the clever, given to the planet Mercury, seems, however, inexplicable except on the latter hypothesis.