Monday

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English monedai, also monenday,^[2][3][4][5] inherited from Old English mōnandæg (“day of the moon”), contracted to mōndæg,^[2][6][7] formed from Old English mōna + dæg, with the first element in the genitive, mōnan.^[8][6][2] The compound is common Germanic:^[2] Merriam-Webster traces the West Germanic forms to one prehistoric compound,^[9][10] and Wiktionary reconstructs it as Proto-West Germanic *mānini dag.^[1] Compare Old Frisian mōnandei, Middle Dutch mānendach, Old High German mānetac, Old Norse mánadagr, Dutch maandag, German Montag, Swedish måndag and Danish mandag.^[11][3][6] These names are loan translations of Late Latin lūnae diēs (“day of the moon”),^{[11][2][6][3][12]} which is the source of Old French lunsdi, French lundi, Italian lunedì and Spanish lunes.^[11][2][3] The OED explains that the Roman day names came from the planets and their gods, that the Germanic names usually put an equivalent Germanic god in place of the Roman one, and that for the moon the planet and the god were the same.^[11] Etymonline, Barnhart, Hoad and Klein take the Latin as itself a translation of Ancient Greek ἡμέρα σελήνης (hēméra selḗnēs),^{[2][6][13][3]} but the OED dates the Latin to the 3rd century and thinks the Greek probably follows it.^[11] The Slavic names generally mean "day after Sunday".^[2][14]

Earliest recorded meaning

The day after Sunday: in Old English, in Byrhtferð's Enchiridion,^[11] about 1000 in Barnhart.^[6] Bosworth–Toller quotes it for the last Monday in April and the first in August.^[7] In Middle English the Peterborough Chronicle has on Monendæig, from before 1131.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word's meaning has stayed fixed, but its place in the week has shifted: it is traditionally the second day, and now often counts as the first, following the weekend.^[11] In Old English the dative was used as an adverb, on Monday, a use now chiefly North American;^[11] the plural Mondays, each Monday, is recorded from 1859.^[11] A Saint Monday (1753) was a Monday spent idle after Sunday's drinking,^[2][15] which Weekley compares with French fêter Saint-Lundi;^[16] Etymonline dates Mondayish (1804) to clergymen worn out by Sunday's labours,^[2][16] and a slang dictionary of 1873 has it for anyone disinclined to work.^[17] The OED suggests that the slang Monday for a heavy sledgehammer (1848) reflects the shock of coming back to hard work.^[11] Black Monday has been used of the Monday after Easter since the late 14th century,^[2][5] Etymonline finding the origin of its bad reputation a mystery;^[2] it was also school slang for the first day after a vacation, and the name of the stock-market collapse of 19 October 1987.^[15] In dialect a Monday's haddie was a stale fish in Scotland, this side Monday week meant some very distant date in Worcestershire, and to be not up to Monday in Norfolk was to lack intellect.^[18] The American Monday morning quarterback is attested from 1932, from the talk at work about the weekend's football.^[2]

Timeline

• Old English – the day following Sunday.^[11] Barnhart has about 1000.^[6]
• Old English – as an adverb, on Monday.^[11]
• before 1131 – Monendæig, in the Peterborough Chronicle.^[5]
• before 1200 – monedæi, in Layamon.^[6][5]
• late 14th century – Black Monday, the Monday after Easter.^[2]
• late 16th century – attributive use, of or taking place on Monday.^[15]
• 1753 – Saint Monday, a Monday of idleness after Sunday's drinking.^[2]
• 1804 – Mondayish, of clergymen after Sunday's labours.^[2]
• 1848 – slang, a heavy sledgehammer.^[11]
• 1859 – plural adverb, Mondays, on each Monday.^[11]
• 1932 – Monday morning quarterback.^[2]
• 1987 – Black Monday, the worldwide stock-market collapse of 19 October.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. The day after Sunday and before Tuesday, traditionally the second day of the week and often now counted as the first of the working week: The new rota starts on Monday.^[11][19][9]
2. (slang) A large, heavy sledgehammer.^[11]

Adverb

1. On Monday: We fly home Monday.^[11][15]
2. As Mondays: on each Monday: The library closes early Mondays.^[11]

Adjective

1. Of Monday, or taking place on Monday: a Monday meeting.^[15]

Word family

• Monday-morning quarterback
• Mondayish

Related words

• moon
• day

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
14. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
15. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
16. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
17. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
18. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
19. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins