Fourth-Fair Addams

Portuguese is a lovely language. While it has a lot of similarities to Spanish, and several key differences, in pronunciation, it has a much more French character. The j in Portuguese is the j in French and one example.

But one thing I find very interesting about Portuguese is the names of the days of the week. In many Romance languages, there is a similarity to how the names were chosen. Sunday is named for the Judeo-Christian God or a day dedicated to that God. In French it is Dimanche and in Spanish it is Domingo. (Remember the work for god is dieu in French and dios in Spanish.) Saturdays are generally named for the sabbath. French has Samedi and Spanish has Sabado. These both come from the Latin word for Sabbath which itself comes from the Hebrew word Shabbat. That's the seventh day of the week, the day of rest as dictated in Exodus with a reference to the creation story of Genesis.

In this, Portuguese is in full agreement.

All these guys are in agreement too

But that agreement doesn't extend to the weekdays. In other Romance languages the weekdays are named for the moon, Mars, Mercury, Jove (or Jupiter if you prefer his other name), and Venus. In French those are Lundi, Mardi, Mercredi, Jeudi, and Vendredi. In Spanish they are Lunes, Martes, Miercoles, Jueves, and Viernes.

And why doesn't Portuguese agree? Like the answer to so many questions from Europe after the fall of Rome, religion.

But here is where Portuguese put its foot down. Well, it was an archbishop who put his foot down. The Archbishop Martin de Braga did not like having days named for what he considered Pagan gods. Instead, he wanted to number the days.

Inspired by Holy Week, the week before Easter, he wanted to name the days what they would call the festival days in that week. First fair, second fair, third fair, and so on. Though he did not object to Sabado or Domingo, because those had Judeo-Christian roots. His ideas caught on in what is today Portuguese, and so you get this strange mix.

Domingo, Segunda-feira, Terça-feira, Quarta-feira, Quinta-feira, Sexta-feira, and Sabado. Translating this directly would be God's Day, Second-fair, Third-fair, Fourth-fair, Fifth-fair, Sixth-fair, and Sabbath. Notice that the good Archbishop didn't renumber either. Sunday is the first day of the week and Monday is the second day. So even though Monday is the first day you are going to call by a number, it is Second-fair. It's just First-fair kept its Latin inspired name.

The abbreviations are dom, 2^a, 3^a, 4^a, 5^a, 6^a, sab.

When speaking aloud, most Portuguese speakers seem to drop the ``feira'' and just say the number.

I think it's cool, but it must be limiting for marketing and art. Does Taco Third-fair roll off the tongue? Do you say, "Thank God it's Sixth-fair"? Do rainy days and Second-fairs always get you down?

If you answered yes to any of the above, you should move to Brazil. Or Cape Verde. Or Timor-Leste. Or... I feel like there's one right on the tip of my tongue. Well, maybe I'll remember it on Fifth-fair.