setmana

Forms

setmana f (plural setmanes)^[1] The ⟨t⟩ is partly or wholly assimilated to the ⟨m⟩, and spellings with ⟨nm⟩ and ⟨mm⟩ go back to the Middle Ages: senmanes in a 12th-century document, semmana in Pou's thesaurus and in Labèrnia's dictionary of 1840.^[2] Most dialects say semmana with a double /m/, while Valencian says semana; around Berga, Sant Llorenç de Morunys and Bagà a labialised seumana is heard.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Catalan setmana, inherited from Late Latin septimāna (“week”).^[1][2][4][5] The Late Latin noun was derived from the adjective septimānus (“of the seventh”), from septimus (“seventh”).^[1][4]

The word is a calque of Ancient Greek ἑβδομάς (hebdomás, “week”), itself from ἕβδομος (hébdomos, “seventh”).^[2][4] Coromines calls it a very late calque: Latin of antiquity used only the Greek loanword hebdomas, and the Latin word is first seen in a medieval gloss on it, but it must have been current in Merovingian times, since it passed with a fairly popular sound shape to all the Romance languages except Sardinian, and to insular Celtic.^[2] Traces of the inherited Greek loan survive in some Rhaeto-Romance, northern Italian and Dalmatian dialects.^[2]

The same Late Latin word is Occitan setmana, Spanish semana, French semaine, Italian settimana and Romanian săptămână.^[6][1]

The labialised ⟨seumana⟩ of the Berga area is explained by Coromines from a half-learned spelling with ⟨p⟩, seen in ⟨sepmana⟩ in the Col·loqui de dames and ⟨sempmana⟩ in a Mallorcan document of 1433: the effort to pronounce the /p/ rounded the vowel or turned the /p/ into /u/.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a 12th-century document from the upper Cardener valley, which tells of a man held prisoner 6 senmanes, six weeks.^[2][4] In Jaume I's chronicle the king shares out the land entorn de 3 setmanes, about three weeks after entering Cullera.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word meant a period of seven days fixed by the calendar, and Llull uses it for the Christian week whose seventh day is Sunday.^[7][8] Muntaner speaks of la setmana del Ram, Holy Week, in events of 1328.^[2] By the 15th century it also meant a worker's week of labour and its pay, as in the Novells ardits of 1460 on las setmanes de las obres dels murs.^[8][3] Jaume Roig (1460) has entre semmana, on weekdays.^[8]

The derivatives are mostly modern: setmaner in Pou's thesaurus of 1575, setmanada and setmanari “weekly paper” in 1803, setmanal in Labèrnia's dictionary of 1839.^[5] In 15th-century Mallorcan documents setmaner was used of a procurer, perhaps one paid by the week.^[2]

Fabra's dictionary of 1932 makes the week begin on Sunday and end on Saturday, the old Christian reckoning.^[9][4] The DIEC2 allows either Sunday or Monday as the first day.^[10]

Timeline

• 1100s – senmanes in a document from the upper Cardener valley.^[2][4]
• 1244–1274 – Jaume I's chronicle: entorn de 3 setmanes.^[2]
• 1250–1299 – first records in CICA, in the Catalan Dialogues of St Gregory.^[11]
• 1381 – Eiximenis speaks of one day's rest de cascuna setmana.^[8]
• 1433 – sempmana in a Mallorcan document.^[2]
• 1460 – the Novells ardits speak of the setmanes of work on the walls;^[8] Roig writes entre semmana.^[8]
• 1932 – Fabra lists setmana santa and entre setmana.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A week, a period of seven days counted from Monday to Sunday, or from Sunday to Saturday: Ens veurem la setmana vinent.^[10][4]
2. Any period of seven days: Fa una setmana que no plou.^[10][3]
3. (dated) A week's work, and the wages paid for it.^[3][8]
4. Setmana Santa: Holy Week, the last week of Lent.^[4][9]

Word family

• setmanada
• setmanal
• bisetmanal
• trisetmanal
• setmanalment
• setmanari
• setmaner

Related words

• setè
• Latin septimāna
• Occitan setmana
• Spanish semana

Usage notes

Entre setmana means on a weekday, not at the weekend, and la setmana dels tres dijous (or dels set dijous) is a joking way of saying never.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 7, 867
3. ^ a b c d Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. setmana
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. setmana
5. ^ a b Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 843
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7834
7. ^ Nou glossari general lul·lià (NGGL), Centre de Documentació Ramon Llull, Universitat de Barcelona, https://nggl.ub.edu, p. s.v. setmana
8. ^ a b c d e f g Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. setmana
9. ^ a b c Fabra, Pompeu (1932), Diccionari general de la llengua catalana, Barcelona: Llibreria Catalònia, p. s.v. setmana
10. ^ a b c d Institut d'Estudis Catalans (2007), Diccionari de la llengua catalana, 2nd ed. (DIEC2), Barcelona: Edicions 62; online edition with later updates, https://dlc.iec.cat, p. s.v. setmana
11. ^ Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. setmana