A Lighthearted Look at the Spanish Day of the Week
With a name like Jose Mier it’s only a matter of time before the similarity of the Mier surname and the Spanish word for Wednesday is brought up. In fact, it was in another Jose Mier search that I found a listing for masses (misas) at a church that take place on Wednesdays. The listing used the abbreviations “Wed” and “Mier” so of course it was returned as a result in my search.
I’ve known the days of the week in Spanish my whole life, but I never really thought about their origins until now. With miercoles popping up in front of me and because I’ve been investigating the origins of the Mier surname I did a quick search.
Good old Wicktionary came quickly to my rescue. It seems that the word derives from Latin and is a reference to the day of Mercury, the Roman god. The term, like most words down through history, has undergone some changes and alterations, but it makes sense that Spanish, being a romance language with its roots in Latin has borrowed this old Roman term for Wednesday.
Now of course our English Wednesday is derived from the Norse god Wodin (or Odin) and we’re not even going to go there—well, perhaps we would if my name weren’t Jose Mier but instead Jose Wodinsky.
In any case, today is Wednesday so let’s enjoy it and here’s to a happy Jose Miercoles!