English
Sunday
Sunday comes from Proto-West Germanic *dag ‘day’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *dagaz.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*dagaz‘day’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*dag‘day’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanic, derivedc. 200–500 CE*Sunnōn dagliterally ‘day of the Sun’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150sunnandæġ
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500Sonday
- Englishearliest quotation 1910Sunday
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*dagaz‘day’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*dag‘day’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanic, derivedc. 200–500 CE*Sunnōn dagliterally ‘day of the Sun’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150sunnandæġ
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500Sonday
- Englishearliest quotation 1910Sunday
Earliest quotation: 1910, Arthur B. Reeve, The Silent Bullet: “I waded through accounts of new calves and colts,…”
The story
From Middle English Sonday, from Old English sunnandæġ, from Proto-West Germanic *Sunnōn dag (literally “day of the Sun”), equivalent to sun + day, as a calque (interpretātiō germānica) of Latin diēs Sōlis; declared the "venerable day of the sun" by Roman Emperor Constantine on March 7, 321 C.E.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ- ‘to burn’
dear, fever, darling, febrile, foment, 20 more
through Proto-Germanic *dagaz ‘day’
through Proto-West Germanic *dag ‘day’
Today it means
noun The first day of the week in many religious traditions, and the seventh day of the week in systems using the ISO 8601 standard; the Christian Sabbath; it follows Saturday and precedes Monday.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *dagaz / Sunday