I’ve recently been enamored with Italian genealogy (see here) because of digging into friends with Italian ancestry. I’ve come across names like Bugni, Catania, and Sorrentino and fell in love with the language and decided to learn it. As part of my study, I’m starting a series called “The Italian Genealogical ABC’s” on important genealogical words you’ll find in Italian documents.
This week it is all about the days of the week. While days are not as common as years or dates (21st, 22nd, etc.), they are still important when translating the document. In the picture below, you will find the days of the week — Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday — translated into Italian as well as the Italian abbreviations.
Now that you’ve gotten a chance to check out the translations and abbreviations, let’s go into a little history, etymology and other trivia facts about the days of the week in Italian.
FUN FACT #1: Italian days of the week are never capitalized.
FUN FACT #2: The origin of most of the days of the week come from Teutonic deities.
FUN FACT #3: The translation for ‘days of the week’ in Italian is ‘giorni della settimana’
FUN FACT #4: In addition to being named after Teutonic/Roman deities the days of the week are associated with a body in our solar system.
- lunedì = Luna = Moon
- martedì = Marte = Mars
- mercoledì = Mercurius = Mercury
- giovedì = Giove = Jupiter
- venerdì = Venere = Venus
- sabato = Saturno = Saturn
- domenica = Sole = Sun
What other facts or tips do you have about learning and transcribing the days of the week in Italian? Be sure to comment below and share with your fellow genealogy friends.
Follow The Hipster Historian on Facebook and Instagram.
The Hipster Historian 
Hi,
I want to let you know that your blog is listed in this week’s Fab Finds post at http://janasgenealogyandfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/2017/04/follow-friday-fab-finds-for-april-14.html
Have a great weekend!
Oh my gosh! Thank you so much. 😀 I really appreciate you letting me know.
I love the Italian language too. And, yes, I adore the Italian names in my family. It makes me feel extra fancy when I say them out loud. 😉
One thing I’ve noticed – not about days of the week but the Italian language in general – is that it’s pretty easy to interpret if you’ve already learned Spanish or another romance language, since they’re in the same Latin-based family! Having that knowledge makes it much easier for me to read and understand Italian records.
I’ve found the very same thing. I don’t know Spanish fluently, but I took enough in high school that I feel I understand more of Italian.