Tuesday

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English tiwesday, also tewisday,^[2] inherited from Old English Tīwesdæg (“Tiw's day”),^[3][4] formed from the genitive of Tīw, the name of a Germanic god, and dæg (“day”).^[3][4][5] The god's name is from Proto-Germanic *Tīwaz,^[6][4] which Etymonline traces to Proto-Indo-European *deiwos (“god”) and the root *dyeu- (“to shine”);^[5] it is related to Latin deus (“god”) and Ancient Greek Διός (Diós), the genitive of Ζεύς (Zeús).^[7][8][6] The compound imitates Latin diēs Mārtis (“day of Mars”),^[3][7][9] the source of French mardi and Italian martedì,^[5][10] and Etymonline and the OED compare Ancient Greek Ἄρεος ἡμέρα (Áreos hēméra).^[5][7] The OED explains that the Roman days were named after planets, the planets after gods, and that Germanic speakers usually replaced the Roman god with a comparable one of their own: Tiw, a sky god and originally also a god of war, stood for Mars.^[7] An early Old English gloss equates the two: “Mars, martis, tiig”.^[7] Compare Old Frisian tīesdei, Old High German ziestag,^[7][5] Old Norse týsdagr, Swedish tisdag and Danish tirsdag;^[7][10] the OED holds that the Scandinavian forms follow West Germanic models and reinforced some English spellings.^[7] German Dienstag and Dutch dinsdag have a different first element, which Etymonline takes as “Thinxus”, a name of the war god in Latin inscriptions, rather than the word for a public assembly.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The day after Monday: in Old English, in Byrhtferð's Enchiridion,^[7] about 1050 in Barnhart.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has stayed fixed, while the day's place in the week has moved: it was traditionally the third day, and is now often counted as the second.^[7] In Middle English the old compound was worn down, with tywesdæi recorded in 1122 and tisdæi probably before 1200 in Layamon.^[4] The use as an adverb, "on Tuesday", goes back to late Old English and survives chiefly in North America.^[7] Johnson (1755) still gives the Saxon origin, explaining the first element as a Saxon word for Mars.^[11]

Timeline

• late Old English – on Tuesday, as an adverb, in the Peterborough continuation of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.^[7]
• 1122 – the form tywesdæi.^[4]
• before 1200 – the form tisdæi, in Layamon.^[4]
• 1630 – Tuesdays, on each Tuesday.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The day after Monday and before Wednesday, traditionally the third day of the week and now often counted as the second.^[7][2][12]

Adverb

1. On Tuesday, or on the last or next Tuesday; now chiefly North American.^[7]
2. Tuesdays: on every Tuesday.^[7]

Word family

• Tuesdays

Related words

• day
• deity
• Mars
• Zeus
• Jupiter
• Wednesday
• Thursday
• Friday

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins