Editing Wednesday (section)

==Etymology==
{{see also-text|[[Names of the days of the week]]|for more on naming conventions.}}
The name [[:wikt:Wednesday|Wednesday]] continues [[Middle English]] {{Lang|enm|Wednesdei}}. [[Old English language|Old English]] still had {{Lang|ang|wōdnesdæg}}, which would be continued as ''*Wodnesday'' (but [[Old Frisian]] has an attested {{Lang|ofs|wednesdei}}). By the [[early Middle English|early 13th century]], the [[i-mutation|''i''-mutated]] form was introduced unetymologically.{{Clarify|date=July 2018}}

The name is a [[calque]] of the Latin {{Lang|la|dies Mercurii}} 'day of [[Mercury (mythology)|Mercury]]', reflecting the fact that the Germanic god [[Woden]] (Wodanaz or Odin) during the [[Roman Empire|Roman era]] was [[interpretatio romana|interpreted]] as "Germanic Mercury".

The Latin name dates to the late 2nd or early 3rd century. It is a calque of Greek {{lang|grc|ἡμέρα Ἕρμου}} ({{Lang|grc-latn|heméra [[Hermes|Hérmou]]}}), a term first attested, together with the system of naming the seven weekdays after the seven classical planets, in the ''Anthologiarum'' by [[Vettius Valens]] (c. AD 170).

The Latin name is reflected directly in the weekday name in most modern [[Romance languages]]: {{Lang|sc|mércuris}} (Sardinian), {{Lang|fr|mercredi}} (French), {{Lang|it|mercoledì}} (Italian), {{Lang|es|miércoles}} (Spanish), {{Lang|ro|miercuri}} (Romanian), {{Lang|ca|dimecres}} (Catalan), {{Lang|co|marcuri}} or {{Lang|co|mercuri}} (Corsican), {{Lang|vec|mèrcore}} (Venetian). In Welsh it is {{Lang|cy|Dydd Mercher}}, meaning 'Mercury's Day'.

The [[Dutch language|Dutch]] name for the day, {{Lang|nl|woensdag}}, has the same etymology as English ''Wednesday''; it comes from [[Middle Dutch]] {{Lang|dum|wodenesdag}}, {{Lang|dum|woedensdag}} ('Wodan's day').

The [[German language|German]] name for the day, {{Lang|de|Mittwoch}} (literally: 'mid-week'), replaced the former name {{Lang|de|Wodenstag}} ('Wodan's day') in the 10th century. (Similarly, the [[Yiddish]] word for Wednesday is {{Lang|yi|מיטוואך}} ({{Lang|yi-latn|mitvokh}}), meaning and sounding a lot like the [[German language|German]] word it came from.)

Most [[Slavic languages]] follow this pattern and use derivations of 'the middle' ([[Belarusian language|Belarusian]] {{Lang|be|серада}} {{Lang|be-latn|serada}}, [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]] {{Lang|bg|сряда}} {{Lang|bg-latn|sryada}}, [[Croatian language|Croatian]] {{Lang|hr|srijeda}}, [[Czech language|Czech]] {{Lang|cs|středa}}, [[Macedonian language|Macedonian]] {{Lang|mk|среда}} {{Lang|mk-latn|sreda}}, [[Polish language|Polish]] {{Lang|pl|środa}}, [[Russian language|Russian]] {{Lang|ru|среда}} {{Lang|ru-latn|sredá}}, [[Serbian language|Serbian]] {{Lang|sr|среда}} {{Lang|sr-latn|sreda}} or {{Lang|sr|cриједа}} {{Lang|sr-latn|srijeda}}, [[Slovak language|Slovak]] {{Lang|sk|streda}}, [[Slovene language|Slovene]] {{Lang|sl|sreda}}, [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]] {{Lang|uk|середа}} {{Lang|uk-latn|sereda}}). 
The [[Finnish language|Finnish]] name is {{Lang|fi|keskiviikko}} ('middle of the week'), as is the [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]] name: {{Lang|is|miðvikudagur}}, and the [[Faroese language|Faroese]] name: {{Lang|fo|mikudagur}} ('mid-week day').  Some dialects of Faroese have {{Lang|fo|ónsdagur}}, though, which shares etymology with Wednesday. [[Danish language|Danish]], [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]], [[Swedish language|Swedish]] {{Lang|mis|onsdag}}<!-- Danish/Norwegian/Swedish -->, ({{Lang|mis|Ons-dag}}<!-- Danish/Norwegian/Swedish --> meaning {{Lang|mis|Odens dag}}<!-- Danish/Norwegian/Swedish --> 'Odin's day').

In [[Japanese language|Japanese]], the word for Wednesday is {{Nihongo krt|2=水曜日|3=sui youbi}} meaning 'water day' and is associated with {{Lang|ja|水星}} ({{Lang|ja-latn|suisei}}): Mercury (the planet), literally meaning 'water star'. Similarly, in [[Korean language|Korean]] the word for Wednesday is {{Korean|hangul=수요일|rr=su yo il|labels=no}}, also meaning 'water day'.

In most of the [[languages of India]], the word for Wednesday is {{Lang|sa-latn|Budhavāra}} — {{Lang|sa-latn|vāra}} meaning 'day' and ''[[Budha]]'' being the planet [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]].

In [[Armenian language|Armenian]] ({{Lang|hy|Չորեքշաբթի}} {{Lang|hy-latn|chorekshabti}}), [[Georgian language|Georgian]] ({{Lang|ka|ოთხშაბათი}} {{Lang|ka-latn|otkhshabati}}), [[Turkish language|Turkish]] ({{Lang|tr|çarşamba}}), and [[Tajik language|Tajik]] ({{Lang|tg-latn|chorshanbiyev}}) languages the word literally means 'four (days) from Saturday' originating from [[Persian language|Persian]] ({{lang|fa|چهارشنبه}} {{Lang|fa|cheharshanbeh}}).

[[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] uses the word {{Lang|pt|quarta-feira}}, meaning 'fourth day', while in [[Greek language|Greek]] the word is {{Lang|el-latn|Tetarti}} ({{lang|el|Τετάρτη}}) meaning simply 'fourth'. Similarly, [[Arabic language|Arabic]] {{Lang|ar|أربعاء|rtl=yes}} means 'fourth', [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] {{Lang|he|רביעי}} means 'fourth', and [[Persian language|Persian]] {{Lang|fa|چهارشنبه|rtl=yes}} means 'fourth day'. Yet the name for the day in [[Estonian language|Estonian]] {{Lang|et|kolmapäev}}, [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]] {{Lang|lt|trečiadienis}}, and [[Latvian language|Latvian]] {{Lang|lv|trešdiena}} means 'third day' while in [[Standard Chinese|Mandarin Chinese]] {{Lang|zh|星期三}} ({{Lang|zh-latn|xīngqīsān}}), means 'day three', as Sunday is unnumbered.