mariakoropecky by Maria Koropecky, Storytelling Coach & Author
Having grown up in a Ukrainian-speaking home and an English-speaking school system, I’ve done a lot of translating in my head and have really come to love words and their origin stories.
A few years ago, I connected some dots and realized that the Ukrainian words for the days of the week are not random sounds – they actually have some logic to them!
For example, the word for “Wednesday” in Ukrainian is “Sereda,” and the related word, “Seredyna,” means “in the middle.”
Also, the Ukrainian word for “Thursday” is “Chetver,” and it’s related to the number 4 [chotyry] – and for Ukrainians, Thursday is considered the 4th day of the week. Following suit, Friday, “Pyatnytsya,” is the 5th day, and “five” is built right in.
Recently, I was reading a chart about chakras and discovered that there’s rhyme to the reason for the English names of the days of the week too!
• Monday is “Moon’s Day”
• Tuesday is “Tiw’s Day,” Germanic God of War & Sky
• Wednesday is “Woden’s Day,” named after the Germanic god Odin or Woden, the supreme god; Odin being equated with the Roman god Mercury (“mercredi” is the French word for Wednesday)
• Thursday is “Thor’s Day,” god of Thunder
• Friday is “Frigga’s Day,” named after the Germanic goddess Frigga, wife of the supreme god Odin and goddess of married love; Frigga being equated with the Roman goddess of love, Venus (“vendredi” is the French word for Friday)
• Saturday is “Saturn’s Day,” god of Time or Agriculture
• Sunday is “Sun’s Day”
Aren’t words fun?
If you find joy in these linguistic connections and love exploring the richness of words as much as I do, you might really enjoy reading my novel, “Closer to Indigo.” Wordplay is a minor theme, and just by chance, I named a character “Odin” – but I picked this name because in Ukrainian, “Odin” means “the number one.”
You might also appreciate knowing that I have a coaching program called, “Your Story is Your Wealth,” designed to help Spiritual Storytellers like you write and tell your own stories in your unique style, in your words.
How does that sound? Let me know if you want to talk and learn more and we can book a call!
#storytelling #coaching #novel #selfpublishing
