Days of the Week

[Jannoire]

That means the OotS world’s day star has the same name as our day star! I wonder if that’s just a coincidence, or if there’s a deeper meaning...

Like, for example:

Long ago, both Earth and OotS-World orbited the star call The Sun. But then one day, OOTS-World was destroyed. The end..

Or it's just because it's simpler.
Everybody knows what the sun is. There's no need to establish a new world and tell everybody "yeah, there's no sun in OOTS world. They have a feukveoc, which is exactly like the sun in our world, but they call it that way..."

[Peelee]

That’s the type of errant pedantry up with with which Vaarsuvius will happily put.

Reminds me of that scene in Canadian Bacon. Quality movie, that.

[Dion]

Or it's just because it's simpler...

Sure, but in a thread where we’re questioning the existence of the word SATURDAY, we might as well question other words as well...

[Grey_Wolf_c]

We know from comic 1089 that the meaning of the names of the days of the week are known in comic (Wednesday is, in short, a corruption of "The day of Woden" aka Odin.)

So that got me thinking, what might the other northern gods think of Tyr (tuesday), Odin, Thor (thursday), and Frigg (friday) having days named after them? Did the gods use Saturday as a sneaky way to honor the fallen eastern pantheon? The mortals aren't supposed to know Zeus even existed, much less know an alternate name of his, so it's unlikely that they named Saturday.

If "Woden's day" can become Wednesday, "Surtur's Day" can become Saturday.

Grey Wolf

[The Pilgrim]

If "Woden's day" can become Wednesday, "Surtur's Day" can become Saturday.

Grey Wolf

Except that all philological evidence shows that it didn't. Saturday comes straight from latin's Saturni Dies. The oldest records are already written with the root "Satur".

[Dion]

Except that all philological evidence shows that it didn't. Saturday comes straight from latin's Saturni Dies. The oldest records are already written with the root "Satur".

I’m not familiar with the comic you’re referencing. By “oldest records”, do you mean Start of Darkness?

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Except that all philological evidence shows that it didn't. Saturday comes straight from latin's Saturni Dies. The oldest records are already written with the root "Satur".

I agree with Dion. I do wonder what evidence you have for these "philological evidence" that are within the bounds of the forum rules, and explicitly within the bounds of the mod voice:

The Mod on the Silver Mountain: I'm re-opening this thread, but please keep all references relevant to the comic. This is a reminder that real-world religion is an Inappropriate Topic on these forums.

Grey Wolf

[hroþila]

It is attested as sæterndæg in Old English (note the <n>), but I'm unclear to what extent we're being serious or talking about in-universe philology only.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

It is attested as sæterndæg in Old English (note the <n>), but I'm unclear to what extent we're being serious or talking about in-universe philology only.

Again: OotS isn't real life. If the question is "why is a day of the week in OotS called saturday, when there isn't and has never been a god named Saturn", then my answer is "because it is not named after a non-existing god, but after an existing one called Surtur".

Grey Wolf

[HorizonWalker]

This may raise the question "then why does Surtur get a day, when most of the others don't? He's just a minor demigod!" and the answer is "Iunno, they drew straws or something."

[hroþila]

Again: OotS isn't real life. If the question is "why is a day of the week in OotS called saturday, when there isn't and has never been a god named Saturn", then my answer is "because it is not named after a non-existing god, but after an existing one called Surtur".

Grey Wolf

Hence what I said about not being sure everybody was on the same page as to what the discussion is about. Anyway, I think positing it comes from "Surtur" just adds an unnecessary complication. It's probably just a random name in-universe. These things can't be made sense of once you strip them of their etymology and phonological history, which by necessity are specific to our world.

In fact, I'm going to posit there's no link between "Wednesday" and "Odin" in the OotS world, and Wednesday is Odin's day entirely by coincidence.

[Keltest]

This may raise the question "then why does Surtur get a day, when most of the others don't? He's just a minor demigod!" and the answer is "Iunno, they drew straws or something."

Because they wanted to commemorate the day that Thor beat up Surtur for the first time this world, but Thorsday had already happened.

[Dion]

It is attested as sæterndæg in Old English (note the <n>), but I'm unclear to what extent we're being serious or talking about in-universe philology only.

We’re having a very important serious discussion about why Saturday is called Saturday in OotS-verse.

We might have a discussion about why it’s called Saturday in our universe, but probably not a serious one, and probably not on this forum.

[KorvinStarmast]

Wednesday is Odin's day entirely by coincidence.

My bet is that Odin's day is Wednesday because Happy Hour on Wednesdays is a long standing tradition, and he wanted to get credit for all of the happiness during happy hour.

(Though I will say that in the last few decades, the "happy hour" tradition in general has been squashed by the zealotry that passes for "public interest" locally ...)

[137beth]

And why do they have Sunday? The star that shines on their world during the day isn’t the Sun!

Sigdi calls it the sun.

[Squire Doodad]

Sigdi calls it the sun.

Wasn't Sunna one of the gods at the Godsmoot? That bit of etymology should be fine in-universe I think.

[D.One]

Fun fact:

In portuguese, the days of the week (from monday to friday) are named "segunda-feira", "terça-feira", "quarta-feira", "quinta-feira" and "sexta-feira", meaning something like "second day", "third day", etc until the "sixth day".

Sunday is Domingo, as in spanish, meaning "Day of the Lord", and Saturday is Sábado, which is related to hebraic Shabbat.

[137beth]

Wasn't Sunna one of the gods at the Godsmoot? That bit of etymology should be fine in-universe I think.

Yes, Sunna voted yes.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Yes, Sunna voted yes.

Best reason, too.

Grey Wolf

[D.One]

Best reason, too.

Grey Wolf

Sunna, god of the Sun and thrower of Nukes...

[Fish]

In portuguese, the days of the week (from monday to friday) are named "segunda-feira", "terça-feira", "quarta-feira", "quinta-feira" and "sexta-feira", meaning something like "second day", "third day", etc until the "sixth day".

Same in Mandarin: 星期一, 星期二, 星期三, etc.

There’s no use overthinking this. OOTS is a self-aware world based on D&D, either implicitly or explicitly, based on the introduction of Dale Arneson, Gary Gygax, version changes, references to specific rules, etc. In turn, D&D follows in the footsteps of Tolkien. Tolkien wrote in “On Fairy Stories” that the Secondary World is satisfying inasmuch as it is familiar to the Primary World where the reader lives. Bilbo Baggins has a great many familiar things in his tale that the reader will recognize, despite there being no in-world economic or logical reasons for them to exist (a clock on the mantelpiece that operates on a recognizable Earth timekeeping system, names of months and weekdays, a liquid economy, pocket handkerchiefs, good silverware for company, bound books, etc). Bilbo’s home is that of a 19th-century English gentleman in order to give a jumping-off point for like-minded readers.

In other words, it’s possible to build a world from first principles where everything is internally consistent and the characters really do speak Common and the biology is inhuman and the weapons are alien and the timekeeping is different.* It’s just not advisable to change too much.

*Weeks are 60 days long and the days are called Mugday, Thugday, Bugday, and Glugday, and they repeat, so there are 15 Glugdays per week.

[Fyraltari]

It should be noted that because Tolkien was Tolkien, the Appendixes of LotR expalins that there is a good deal of translation convention going on regarding the names of the months, days and people in Middle-Earth.

[Squire Doodad]

It should be noted that because Tolkien was Tolkien, the Appendixes of LotR expalins that there is a good deal of translation convention going on regarding the names of the months, days and people in Middle-Earth.

Somewhere along the way, someone translated Bilbo into a fine gentleman from the 1800s too

[Fish]

It should be noted that because Tolkien was Tolkien, the Appendixes of LotR expalins that there is a good deal of translation convention going on regarding the names of the months, days and people in Middle-Earth.

And Arthur Conan Doyle’s writing says that “Dr Watson” wrote the Sherlock Holmes stories. It’s a convenient fiction. There was no translation. It was a choice by Tolkien to present a recognizable world and then justify that choice with more story.

[Fyraltari]

And Arthur Conan Doyle’s writing says that “Dr Watson” wrote the Sherlock Holmes stories. It’s a convenient fiction. There was no translation. It was a choice by Tolkien to present a recognizable world and then justify that choice with more story.

Yes I know, I didn't challenge that.

(Edited for uncalled for aggressivity.)

[hroþila]

It always bugged me how many small details in Tolkien's languages only worked as English calques. They should have taken his conlanging license.

I just can't get mad at the Baranduin/Branda-nîn/Bralda-hîm/Brandywine/[insert language of translation] joke though.

[Fyraltari]

It always bugged me how many small details in Tolkien's languages only worked as English calques. They should have taken his conlanging license.

Also, "hey, let's state in the Appendixes that the hobbit version of Westron lost its T-V distinction but unlike english it lost the formal form, not the informal AND that no other form of Westron had lost it at the time meaning that to everybody who is not a hobbit sound weirdly bold and disrepectful by addressing complete strangers (raoyaly even) as if they were friends. And then, let's absolutely NOT reflect that in the dialog I wrote".
What a great idea...

I don't think you can take the conlang license of the guy who founded the conlang club.

[Peelee]

They should have taken his conlanging license.

I don't think you can take the conlang license of the guy who founded the conlang club.

Spoiler: Tolkien's response

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[hroþila]

Oh, the thing with the lack of T-V distinction in the hobbit dialect was a stroke of genius.

Tolkien may cry treason all he wants, Hildegard of Bingen has the last word on his membership status.

[Fyraltari]

Spoiler: Tolkien's response

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Spoiler: Star Wars, really?

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