Thursday

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English thuresday, also thursday,^[2][3] inherited from Old English þūresdæg, a contracted form of þunresdæg (“Thor's day”), influenced by Old Norse þórsdagr.^{[4][5][6][7][8]} The Old English compound is formed from þunres, the genitive of þunor (“thunder; the god Thor”), and dæg (“day”).^[4][5][8] Some dictionaries take the “þūres-” forms as borrowed from Old Norse itself;^{[9][2][10][11]} the OED says the inherited word was reinforced by the Scandinavian form.^[12] Its West Germanic cognates are Old Frisian thunresdei, Middle Dutch donresdach (now Dutch donderdag) and Old High German donarestag (now German Donnerstag), and the Scandinavian ones Danish torsdag and Swedish torsdag.^[12][5][6] All are loan translations of Late Latin diēs Iovis (“day of Jupiter”),^{[5][12][6][13]} with the Germanic god of thunder put in place of Jupiter, the Roman sky god;^[14][12] the Latin name may itself follow Koine Greek Διὸς ἡμέρα (Diòs hēméra, “day of Zeus”).^[12][6] The Latin name gave French jeudi, Italian giovedì and Spanish jueves.^[12][6][15]

Earliest recorded meaning

The day after Wednesday: in Old English, in Byrhtferth's Enchiridion;^[12] Barnhart finds the contracted form Thurresdæg about 1000, in Ælfric's Lives of Saints.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The Latin days of the week were named after the planets and their gods, and the Germanic peoples put their own gods in place of most of the Roman ones;^[12][14] Thor could stand for Jupiter as the god who controlled thunder, and Old English glosses render Latin Iouem as þuner.^[12] The Middle English forms with long ō and u reflect the Scandinavian vowel, while forms with f for th are chiefly Scots.^[12] Barnhart's first Middle English record is thursdei, before 1250 in the Ancrene Riwle.^[5] The day is traditionally counted the fifth of the week, but now often the fourth.^[12] In Middle English Holy Thursday meant Ascension Day; its later use for Maundy Thursday was criticized as incorrect.^[6] As an adverb, "on Thursday", it is recorded from about 1300 and is now chiefly North American; the plural Thursdays, "every Thursday", from 1630.^[12]

Timeline

• c. 1000 – Thurresdæg, in Ælfric's Lives of Saints.^[5]
• before 1250 – thursdei, in the Ancrene Riwle.^[5]
• c. 1300 – adverb, on Thursday.^[12]
• 1630 – Thursdays, on Thursdays.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. The day of the week after Wednesday and before Friday: The club meets every Thursday.^[2][16][12]

Adverb

1. (chiefly North American) On Thursday: She arrives Thursday.^[12]
2. Thursdays: on every Thursday.^[12]

Related words

• thunder
• Thor
• day
• Maundy Thursday

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
15. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
16. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins