English
Wednesday
Wednesday comes from Middle English Wednesday.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500Wednesday
- Englishearliest quotation 2025same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500Wednesday
- Englishearliest quotation 2025same form
Earliest quotation: 2025, Devan Cole and Katelyn Polantz: “US District Judge James Boasberg ruled Wednesday that “probable…”
The story
From Middle English Wednesday, from unattested Old English *wēdnesdæġ (‘Wednesday’), synchronically an i-mutated form of attested wōdnesdæġ (itself from Proto-West Germanic *Wōdanas dag, its reflex Middle English Wodnesdei falling into disuse), from Proto-West Germanic *Wōdinas dag also attested in Old Frisian wednesdei and Middle Dutch wenesdach. In any case, a calque (interpretātiō germānica) of Latin diēs Mercuriī (‘day of Mercury’) and Koine Ancient Greek ἡμέρα (hēméra, “day”) Ἑρμοῦ (Hermoû, “of Hermes”), via an association of the god Odin (‘Woden’) with Mercury and Hermes.
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 fourth day of the week in many religious traditions, and the third day of the week in systems using the ISO 8601 norm; it follows Tuesday and precedes Thursday.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English Wednesday / Wednesday