Friday...

Friday : the name Friday comes from the Old English frigedæg, or 'Frigga's day'; Frigga being the Germanic goddess of married love equivilent (roughly) to Venus (Aphrodite in Greek), after whom the day was called in Latin. The Venusian connection persists in the Romance langauges, as in the French vendredi and the Italian venerdì.

As for Fridays being unlucky, that doesn't have anything to do with either Venus or still less Frigga (jokes about 'married love' to one side; her name comes from the proto-Germanic *frijaz meaning 'noble, dear, beloved'). Rather, it comes from Christians remembering Jesus' death on a Friday; in fact we're told that germanic pagans originally found the day more lucky than not (though nearly all information on paganism available on the net is highly suspect). Christianity is also partially responsible for the unlukiness of the number thirteen--Judas was the thirteenth person present at the last supper--though that itself may be related to an older tradition of twelve being a good number and one more only bringing evil. Counting Odin, for example, Loki is listed as the thirteenth god. With those two fears extant I suppose it was inevitable that they would combine into a super-fear when Friday falls on the thirteenth of any month.

 

 

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