Days of the week trivia: 57 facts about Thursday

Thursday is the day I can’t wait for in the whole week. It is the day that signals the start of the weekend!

So let’s find out some trivia and facts about this special day!

1. Thursday is the day of the week between Wednesday and Friday
2. According to the ISO 8601 international standard, it is the fourth day of the week
3. In countries that adopt the “Sunday-first” convention, it is the fifth day of the week
4. The name is derived from Old English and Middle English Thuresday meaning “Thor’s Day”
5. It was named after the Norse god of Thunder, Thor
6. Thunor, Donar (German, Donnerstag) and Thor are derived from the name of the Germanic god of thunder, Thunraz, equivalent to Jupiter in the interpretatio romana
7. In most Romance languages, the day is named after the Roman god Jupiter, who was the god of sky and thunder
8. In Latin, the day was known as Iovis Dies, “Jupiter’s Day”
9. In Latin, the genitive or possessive case of Jupiter was Iovis/Jovis and thus in most Romance languages it became the word for Thursday
10. This is also reflected in the p-Celtic Welsh dydd Iau
11. The astrological and astronomical sign of the planet Jupiter is sometimes used to represent Thursday
12. Since the Roman god Jupiter was identified with Thunor
13. Most Germanic languages name the day after this god
14. Torsdag in Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish, Hósdagur/Tórsdagur in Faroese, Donnerstag in German or Donderdag in Dutch
15. Finnish and Northern Sami, both non-Germanic (Uralic) languages, uses the borrowing “Torstai” and “Duorastat”
16. In the extinct Polabian Slavic language, it was perundan, Perun being the Slavic equivalent of Thor
17. There are a number of modern names imitating the naming of Thursday after an equivalent of “Jupiter” in local tradition
18. In most of the languages of India, the word for Thursday is Guruvāra – vāra meaning day and Guru being the style for Bṛhaspati, guru to the gods and regent of the planet Jupiter
19. In Sanskrit language, the day is called Bṛhaspativāsaram (day of Bṛhaspati)
20. In Nepali language, the day is called Bihivāra as derived from the Sanskrit word
21. In Thai, the word is Wan Pharuehatsabodi , also in Old Javanese as Respati or in Balinese as Wraspati
22. Referring to the Hindu deity Bṛhaspati, also associated with Jupiter
23. It was an old Illyrian deity and in his honor in the Albanian language Thursday is called “Enjte”
24. Thor In the Nahuatl language, Thursday is Tezcatlipotōnal meaning “day of Tezcatlipoca”
25. In Slavic languages and in Chinese, this day’s name is “fourth”
26. Hungarian uses a Slavic loanword “csütörtök”
27. In Chinese, it is xīngqīsì, meaning “fourth solar day”
28. In Estonian it’s neljapäev, meaning “fourth day” or “fourth day in a week”
29. The Baltic languages also use the term “fourth day”
30. Greek uses a number for this day Pémpti “fifth”
31. As does Portuguese, Hebrew and Arabic
32. Rooted from Arabic, Indonesian word for Thursday is “Kamis”, similarly “Khamis” in Malay and “Kemis” in Javanese
33. In Catholic liturgy, Thursday is referred to in Latin as feria quinta
34. Portuguese, unlike other Romance languages, uses the word quinta-feira, meaning “fifth day of liturgical celebration”
35. That comes from the Latin feria quinta used in religious texts where it was not allowed to consecrate days to pagan gods
36. Icelandic also uses the term fifth day
37. Vietnamese refers to Thursday as Thứ năm
38. It literally means “day five”
39. Quakers traditionally referred to Thursday as “Fifth Day” eschewing the pagan origin of the English name “Thursday”
40. In the Christian tradition, Maundy Thursday or Holy Thursday is the Thursday before Easter
41. The day on which the Last Supper occurred
42. Also known as Sheer Thursday in the United Kingdom, it is traditionally a day of cleaning and giving out Maundy money there
43. Holy Thursday is part of Holy Week
44. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Thursdays are dedicated to the Apostles and Saint Nicholas
45. The Octoechos contains hymns on these themes, arranged in an eight-week cycle, that are chanted on Thursdays throughout the year
46. At the end of Divine Services on Thursday, the dismissal begins with the words: “May Christ our True God, through the intercessions of his most-pure Mother, of the holy, glorious and all-laudable Apostles, of our Father among the saints Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia, the Wonder-worker”
47. Ascension Thursday is 40 days after Easter, when Christ ascended into Heaven
48. In Australia, most cinema movies premieres are held on Thursdays
49. Also, most Australians are paid on a Thursday, either weekly or fortnightly
50. Shopping malls see this as an opportunity to open longer than usual, generally until 9 pm, as most pay cheques are cleared by Thursday morning
51. In Norway, Thursday has also traditionally been the day when most shops and malls are open later than on the other weekdays
52. Although the majority of shopping malls now are open until 8 pm or 9 pm every weekday
53. In the USSR of the 1970s and 1980s Thursday was the “Fish Day”
54. Then the nation’s foodservice establishments were supposed to serve fish dishes
55. For college and university students, Thursday is sometimes referred to as the new Friday
56. There are often fewer or sometimes no classes on Fridays and more opportunities to hold parties on Thursday night and sleep in on Friday
57. As a consequence, some call Thursday “thirstday” or “thirsty Thursday”