Monday

[muhn-dey, -dee]

Monday: see week.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004.
Licensed from Columbia University Press

Monday

Monday (pron. ) is a day of the week between Sunday and Tuesday.

Etymology

The English noun Monday derived sometime before 1200 from monedæi, which itself developed from Old English (around 1000) mōnandæg and mōndæg (literally meaning "day of the moon"), which is cognate to other Germanic languages, including Old Frisian mōnadeig, Middle Low German and Middle Dutch mānendach (modern Dutch Maandag), Old High German mānetag (modern German Montag), and Old Norse mānadagr (Swedish måndag, and Danish and Norwegian manadag). The Germanic term is a Germanic interpretation of Latin lunae dies ("day of the moon").

The Russian word, eschewing pagan names, is понедельник (poniediélnik), meaning "after Sunday." In most of the Indian Languages, the word for Monday is Somvar, with Soma being the Sanskrit name for the moon. The Japanese word for Monday is getsuyōbi (月曜日) which means day of the moon.

Position in the week

In some cultures, Monday is held to be the first day of the week. In Asia – because the western calendar system was introduced only during the 20th century – many languages refer to Monday as the "day of the beginning". For example, Monday is xingqi yi (星期一) in Chinese, meaning day one of the week. The international standard, ISO 8601, defines Monday as the first day of the week.

But according to the Judeo-Christian count, Monday is the second day, the first being Sunday. This is also the standard format in Canada and the United States. Its name in Arabic, Armenian, Georgian, Greek, Hebrew, Persian, Portuguese and Syriac means "second day". Quakers also traditionally refer to Monday as "Second Day" eschewing the pagan origin of the English name "Monday". For similar reasons the official liturgical calendar of the Roman Catholic Church refers to Monday as "Feria II". (The Portuguese name for Monday reflects this, as do all the days' names except Saturday and Sunday: the Portuguese word for Monday is segunda-feira.)

Modern culture usually looks at Monday as the beginning of the workweek, as it is typically Monday when adults go back to work and children back to school after the weekend. Thus, Mondays are often seen as a misfortune. In Middle Eastern countries, however, the beginning of the workweek is usually Saturday (Thursday and Friday are observed as the weekend). In Israel, Sunday is the first day of the workweek. Friday is half a work day and Friday night and Saturday are the Sabbath.

Religious observances

In Judaism and Islam Mondays are considered auspicious days for fasting. The Didache warned early Christians not to fast on Mondays to avoid Judaizing, and suggests Wednesdays instead.

In Judaism the Torah is read in public on Monday mornings, and special penitential prayers are said on Monday, unless there is a special occasion for happiness which cancels them.

In the Eastern Orthodox Church Mondays are days on which the Angels are commemorated. The Octoechos contains hymns on this theme, arranged in an eight-week cycle, that are chanted on Mondays throughout the year. At the end of Divine Services on Monday, the dismissal begins with the words: "May Christ our True God, through the intercessions of his most-pure Mother, of the honorable, Bodiless Powers (i.e., the angels) of Heaven…". In many Eastern monasteries Mondays are observed as fast days; because Mondays are dedicated to the angels, and monks strive to live an angelic life. In these monasteries the monks abstain from meat, fowl, dairy products, fish, wine and oil (if a feast day occurs on a Monday, fish, wine and oil may be allowed, depending upon the particular feast).

Cultural references

In the folk rhyme, "Monday's child is fair of face".

In Thailand, the color associated with Monday is yellow, see Thai solar calendar

The Boomtown Rats have a famous song called "I Don't Like Mondays".

Through the movie Office Space the quote "Someone is having a case of the Mondays!" entered the pop culture lexicon.

In the Garfield Comics and Shows, one of the things Garfield hates is Monday

Monday in different languages

Names for Monday in different languages and cultures (Auswahl)
Language	Pronunciation	Meaning	Notes
Latin	dies lunae	Day of the moon	(literal translation)
Albanian	E Hane	Day of the moon	(literal translation)
Italian	lunedì	Day of the moon	(literal translation)
Galician	luns	Day of the moon	(literal translation)
Catalan	dilluns	Day of the moon	(literal translation)
Spanish	lunes	Day of the moon	(literal translation)
French	lundi	Day of the moon	(literal translation)
German	Montag	Moon day	(literal translation)
English	Monday	Moon day	(literal translation)
Hungarian	hétfő	head of seven (=week)	beginning of the week
Russian	Понедельник Ponedel'nik	after the week	(literal translation)
Polish	Poniedziałek	after Sunday	(literal translation)
Kashubian	Pòniedzôłk	after Sunday	(literal translation)
Khmer	ថ្ងៃច័ន្ទ tngae chan	moon day	(literal translation)
Croatian	Ponedjeljak	after Sunday	(literal translation)
Bulgarian	Понеделник Ponedelnik	after Sunday	(literal translation)
Ukrainian	Понеділок Ponedilnok	after Sunday	(literal translation)
Czech	pondělí	after Sunday	(literal translation)
Serbian	Понедељак / Ponedelyak	after Sunday	(literal translation)
Slovak	Pondelok	after Sunday	(literal translation)
Slovenian	Ponedeljek	after Sunday	(literal translation)
Bosnian	Ponedjeljak	after Sunday	(literal translation)
Macedonian	Понеделник Ponedelnik	after Sunday	(literal translation)
Turkish	Pazartesi	after Sunday	(literal translation)
Kurdish	dúschem	second day	(literal translation)
Greek	Δευτέρα deutéra	the second (day)	(literal translation)
Arabic	الاثنين al-ithnayn	the second (day)	(literal translation)
Persian	دوشنبه do-schambe	the second day	(literal translation)
Hebrew	יום שני yom schenai	the second day	(literal translation)
Portuguese	segunda-feira	second (liturgical) celebration	(literal translation)
Chinese	礼拜一星期一 libaiyi xingqiyi	first day of the week
Japanese	月曜日 getsuyôbi	moon day	Japanese days are called by the names of celestial bodies, starting with sun and moon then five planets
Korean	월요일 walyoil	moon day
Hindi	सोमवार som-vaar	day of Soma	(literal translation) the sacrament/deity soma was associated with the moon as the moon's waxing symbolized the cup of soma filling
Malayalam	തി‍‍‍ങ്കളാഴ്ച thingka-lazhtcha	day of the moon	moon-week