As Webster points out so well below, the name 'Wednesday' comes from Woden - also known as Odin. Yet, the name for Wednesday in the romantic languages is Mercredi (French) from Mercury. This causes people to wonder - one a nice "one to one" mapping for the rest of the days of the week, why is such an apparent break with Wednesday?

French Day | planet  | Norse Deity | English Day
Lundie     | Moon    |             | Monday (moon day)
Mardi      | Mars    | Tyr         | Tuesday
Mercredi   | Mercury | Woden       | Wednesday
Jeudi      | Jupiter | Thor        | Thursday
Vendredi   | Venus   | Freya       | Friday
Samedi     | Saturn  | Loki (?)    | Saturday
Dimanche   | Sun     |             | Sunday (sun's day)
Some of these take a bit a bit of twisting to get to but make sense after a bit.
  • Tyr is the god of war - just as is Mars.
  • Thor and Jupiter are both thunder gods.
  • Freya is a fertility goddess, and Frey is a fertility god, and Frigg was the goddess of marriage - wife of Odin. Choose your F'ing god(dess) that matches with Venus.
  • Loki was called Sataere (realize there is a bit of debate on this topic) - the thief in ambush and as a god of agriculture.

So, now back to the Wednesday Woden/Mercury issue. While some would associate Mercury (Roman) or Hermes (Greek) more with Loki as the trickster and patron to rogues, Mercury has another aspect to him - that of the god of travelers, heralds and some aspects of wisdom and the god who lead the dead to the realm of Hades. Odin is seen as the god of travelers and bards, of poetry and of wisdom - and of death. His halls are that of Valhalla, where the slain warriors go. Among the names for Odin was that of All Father, Ygg, and Bolverk - the last meaning Evil Doer.

Woden and Mercury wern't that far apart.


http://webexhibits.org/calendars/week.html
http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~cherryne/mythology.html

Tori Amos: Wednesday

The third song on Scarlet's Walk displays a sudden upbeat feeling which changes as soon as we get to the chorus and the words sink in. The traveller Scarlet realises she's been in a relationship with a man she doesn't really know, just as she's been living in an America which is also a mystery to her.

The trust is gone and she doesn't know whether she is imagining that he's up to something or whether he really is. She's becoming something she never wanted to become - possessive and suspicious. (Tori Amos in the Scarlet's Walk bio)

The song seems to go through a sudden change of heart, from the perky, happy failure to admit there's something wrong to Scarlet slowing down and thinking about it. The chorus reminds me very much of Past the mission, both in melody and in the somewhat similar road description in the two song. Maybe this is the hot girl of that song who has become cold during years of living with secrets?

So many of us do live lives of deceit, and the difficulty lies in seeing that and doing something about it. Wednesday is about being in the middle of it all and seeing the problem at last, but still being unable to deal with it. That's just my interpretation, though, and you may have others.

Getting out the map again, we see that Scarlet's journey is taking her slowly through Oregon and Washington, then through Idaho to end up in Montana. She is now ready for the straighter journey of Strange.

(first part of the song lost to copyright issues)

No one's at the door
You suggest a ghost
perhaps a phantom
I agree with this in part
Something is with us
I can't put my
finger on --
is Thumbalina size 10
on a Wednesday --

so we go from year to year
with secrets we've been
keeping
Though you say you're
not a Templar man

Seems as if we're
circling for very
different reasons
But one day the Eagle
has to land

Out past the fountain
a left by the station
I start the day
in the usual way
Then think -- well why not --
and stop for a coffee
then begin to recall
things that you say
Pluck up the courage
and snap it's gone again
I start humming "When Doves Cry"

Can someone help me
I think that I'm
Lost here
Lost in a place
called
America

CST Approved

“I will not
Write
Drunk poetry”

I say to
Myself
As I write
Short drunk
Poetry

Wednes"day (?; 48), n. [OE. wednesdai, wodnesdei, AS. i. e., Woden's day (a translation of L. dies Mercurii); fr. the highest god of the Teutonic peoples, but identified with the Roman god Mercury; akin to OS. Wuotan, Icel. D. woensdag Wednesday, Icel. See Day, and cf. Woden, Wood,

The fourth day of the week; the next day after Tuesday.

Ash Wednesday. See in the Vocabulary.

 

© Webster 1913.

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