All of the Swedish weekdays, and several of them in English, stem from Norse mythology. Additionally all, but one, are named after the Gods and Goddesses of that period.
- Måndag – Monday – named after the Norse God ‘Måne’, which means moon.
- Tisdag – Tuesday- named after the Norse God ‘Tyr’, a God of War. This relates to the Roman God of War – Mars – in Germanic ‘Tui’.
- Onsdag – Wednesday – named after the Norse God ‘Oden’, the King God of Wisdom, War and Death. In Germanic, the God was called Woden.
- Torsdag – Thursday – named after the Norse God ‘Thor’, the God of Thunder
- Fredag – Friday – named after the Norse Goddess ‘Freya’ or ‘Frigg’, the Goddess of Love and Fertility (also by the way Oden’s wife)
- Lördag – Saturday – named not after a god, but after the Norse tradition of bathing – called ‘att löga sig’. The English Saturday stems from the Roman God Saturn.
- Söndag – Sunday – named after the Nordic Goddess of the Sun – ‘Sol’ or ‘Sunna’.
If you’re interested in knowing how to pronounce the Swedish days of the week, check out this little film, and put your dancing shoes on!
Watching the Swedes 