Thursday is the day of the week following
Wednesday and before Friday. According to
the ISO 8601 international standard adopted
in most western countries, it is the fourth
day of the week. In countries that use the
Sunday-first convention, Thursday is defined
as the fifth day of the week. It is the fifth
day of the week in the Judeo-Christian calendar
as well, and was defined so in the ancient
Mesopotamian and biblical calendars. The name
is derived from Old English Þūnresdæg and
Middle English Thuresday, which means "Thor's
day".
Etymology
The contemporary name comes from the Old English
Þunresdæg, "Thunor's Day". Thunor, Donar
and Thor are derived from the Proto-Germanic
god Thunraz, god of thunder.
Day name
See Week-day names for more on naming conventions.
Jupiter's day
In most Romance languages, the day is named
after the Roman god Jupiter, who was the god
of sky and thunder. In Latin, the day was
known as Iovis Dies, "Jupiter's Day". In Latin,
the genitive or possessive case of Jupiter
was Iovis/Jovis and thus in most Romance languages
it became the word for Thursday: Italian giovedì,
Spanish jueves, French jeudi, Sardinian jòvia,
Catalan dijous, and Romanian joi. This is
also reflected in the p-Celtic Welsh dydd
Iau.
In most of the languages of India, the word
for Thursday is Guruvar – var meaning day
and guru being the style for Bṛhaspati,
guru to the gods and regent of the planet
Jupiter. In Thai, the word is Wan Pharuehatsabodi
– referring to the Hindu deity Bṛhaspati,
also associated with Jupiter.
The astrological and astronomical sign of
the planet Jupiter is sometimes used to represent
Thursday.
Thor's day
Since the Roman god Jupiter was identified
with Thunor, most Germanic languages name
the day after this god: Torsdag in Danish,
Norwegian, and Swedish, Hósdagur/Tórsdagur
in Faroese, Donnerstag in German or Donderdag
in Dutch. Finnish and Northern Sami, both
non-Germanic languages, uses the borrowing
"Torstai" and "Duorastat". In the extinct
Polabian Slavic language, it was perundan,
Perun being the Slavic equivalent of Thor.
Fourth day
In Slavic languages and in Chinese, this day's
name is "fourth". Hungarian uses a Slavic
loanword "csütörtök". In Chinese, it's
星期四 xīngqīsì. In Estonian it's "neljapäev",
meaning fourth day or fourth day in a week.
Fifth day
Greek uses a number for this day: Πέμπτη
Pémpti "fifth," as does Portuguese: quinta-feira
"fifth day," Hebrew: "יום חמישי" often
written 'יום ה, and Arabic: "يوم الخميس".
Portuguese, unlike other Romance languages,
uses the word quinta-feira, meaning "fifth
day of liturgical celebration", that comes
from the Latin "feria quinta" used in religious
texts where it was not allowed to consecrate
days to pagan gods.
Icelandic also uses the term fifth day as
one of the few Germanic languages not to call
Thursday after Thor.
In Catholic liturgy, Thursday is referred
to in Latin as feria quinta.
Quakers traditionally refer to Thursday as
"Fifth Day" eschewing the pagan origin of
the English name "Thursday".
Eve of Friday
The Urdu name for Thursday is Jumeraate.
Tree Day
In the Japanese and Korean languages, the
days of the week are named after elements
of nature e.g. Sun, Water. Thursday is called
mokuyoubi in Japanese and "mokyoil", with
its representative element being wood or tree.
It is probably associated with 木星: Jupiter,
literally meaning "wood star".
En's day
En was an old Illyrian deity and in his honor
in the Albanian language Thursday is called
"Enjte".
Tezcatlipoca's day
In the Nahuatl language, Thursday is Tezcatlipotōnal
meaning "day of Tezcatlipoca".
Thursday holidays
In the Christian tradition, Maundy Thursday
or Holy Thursday is the Thursday before Easter
— the day on which the Last Supper occurred.
Also known as Sheer Thursday in the United
Kingdom, it is traditionally a day of cleaning
and giving out Maundy money there. Holy Thursday
is part of Holy Week.
Ascension Thursday is 40 days after Easter,
when Christ ascended into Heaven.
In the United States, Thanksgiving Day is
an annual festival celebrated on the fourth
Thursday in November.
Religious observances
In the Hindu religion, Thursday is Guruvaar,
from Guru, the Sanskrit name for Jupiter,
the largest of planets. Guruvaar fasting is
very common throughout India for various holy/religious
reasons. Guru also means "Teacher" - referring
to the role that Brhaspati, the God of the
planet Jupiter, has as teacher of all the
gods. For this reason, in Buddhist Thailand
Thursday is considered the "Teacher's Day",
and it is believed that one should begin one's
education on this auspicious day. Thai students
still pay homages to their teachers in specific
ceremony always held on a selected Thursday.
And graduation day in Thai universities, which
can vary depending on each university, almost
always will be held on a Thursday.
In Judaism and Islam Thursdays are considered
auspicious days for fasting. The Didache warned
early Christians not to fast on Thursdays
to avoid Judaizing, and suggested Fridays
instead.
In Judaism the Torah is read in public on
Thursday mornings, and special penitential
prayers are said on Thursday, unless there
is a special occasion for happiness which
cancels them.
In the Eastern Orthodox Church. Thursdays
are dedicated to the Apostles and Saint Nicholas.
The Octoechos contains hymns on these themes,
arranged in an eight-week cycle, that are
chanted on Thursdays throughout the year.
At the end of Divine Services on Thursday,
the dismissal begins with the words: "May
Christ our True God, through the intercessions
of his most-pure Mother, of the holy, glorious
and all-laudable Apostles, of our Father among
the saints Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra in
Lycia, the Wonder-worker…"
Cultural practices
In Australia, most cinema movies premieres
are held on Thursdays. Also, most Australians
are paid on a Thursday, either weekly or fortnightly.
Shopping malls see this as an opportunity
to open longer than usual, generally until
9 pm, as most pay cheques are cleared by Thursday
morning.
In Norway, Thursday has also traditionally
been the day when most shops and malls are
open later than on the other weekdays, although
the majority of shopping malls now are open
until 8 pm or 9 pm every weekday.
In the United States, Thursday nights are
held for prime time television broadcasts
of college and NFL professional football games.
In the USSR of the 1970s and 1980s Thursday
was the "Fish Day", when the nation's foodservice
establishments were supposed to serve fish
dishes.
Thirsty Thursday
For college and university students, Thursday
is sometimes referred to as the new Friday.
There are often fewer or sometimes no classes
on Fridays and more opportunities to hold
parties on Thursday night and sleep in on
Friday. As a consequence, some call Thursday
"thirstday" or "thirsty Thursday".
Events held on Thursdays
Elections in the United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, all general elections
since 1935 have been held on a Thursday, and
this has become a tradition, although not
a requirement of the law — which only states
that an election may be held on any day "except
Saturdays, Sundays, Christmas Eve, Christmas
Day, Good Friday, bank holidays in any part
of the United Kingdom and any day appointed
for public thanksgiving and mourning". An
explanation sometimes given for the choice
of Thursday as polling day is that it was,
in most towns, the traditional market day,
although it has also been observed that the
choice has practical advantages — with the
outcome of the election being known by Friday,
the new or continuing administration then
has the weekend to organise itself in preparation
for the "government shop opening for business"
on Monday, the first day of the new week following
the election. It is sometimes thought that
Thursday was the chosen polling day as it
is furthest from the Friday and Weekend before,
making it therefore the day when people were
most sober.
Additionally, local elections are usually
held on the first Thursday in May.
The Electoral Administration Act 2006 removed
Maundy Thursday as an excluded day on the
electoral timetable - therefore an election
can now be held on Maundy Thursday, prior
to this elections were sometimes scheduled
on the Tuesday before as an alternative.
Academic Results
Both GCSE and A Level results are traditionally
given to students on a Thursday, A Level results
day is usually the third Thursday of August
whilst GCSE results day is a week later.
Sport
Thursday is the day of the Second Round draw
in the English League Cup.
Historical Thursdays
Black Thursday refers to October 24, 1929
when stock prices on the New York Stock Exchange
fell sharply, with record volume of nearly
13 million shares. Five days later, the market
crashed on volume of over 16 million shares
– a level not to be surpassed for 39 years.
In popular imagery, the crash has come to
mark the beginning of the Great Depression.
Colour associations
In the Thai solar calendar, the colour associated
with Thursday is orange.
In high schools in the United States during
the 1950s and the 1960s, it was believed that
if someone wore green on Thursdays, it meant
that he or she was gay.
Popular culture
In the nursery rhyme, Monday's Child, "Thursday's
Child has far to go".
Literature
Gabriel Syme, the main character, was given
the title of Thursday in G. K. Chesterton's
novel "The Man Who Was Thursday".
Sweet Thursday is a novel by John Steinbeck.
The titular day, the author explains, is the
day after Lousy Wednesday, and the day before
Waiting Friday.
In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by
Douglas Adams, the character Arthur Dent says
"This must be Thursday. I never could get
the hang of Thursdays". A few minutes later
the planet Earth is destroyed. Thor, for whom
the day was named, also appears later in the
Hitchhiker's series and in other Adams books.
In The Long Dark Tea-time of the Soul, one
of the characters says to Thor: "I'm not used
to spending the evening with someone who's
got a whole day named after them".
In the cross media work Thursday's Fictions
by Richard James Allen and Karen Pearlman,
Thursday is the title character, a woman who
tries to cheat the cycle of reincarnation
to get a form of eternal life. Thursday's
Fictions has been a stage production, a book,
a film and an 3D online immersive world in
Second Life.
"Thursday Next" is the central character in
a series of novels by Jasper Fforde.
In Garth Nix's popular The Keys to the Kingdom
series, Thursday is an antagonist who is a
personification of the actual day.
According to Nostradamus' prediction, a powerful
leader who will threaten "the East" will be
born of three water signs and takes Thursday
as his feast day.
Cinema
Thursday is a movie starring Thomas Jane about
the day of a drug dealer gone straight, who
gets pulled back into his old lifestyle.
The Thursday is a 1963 Italian film.
Music
Thursday Afternoon is a 1985 album by the
British ambient musician Brian Eno consisting
of one 60 minute long composition. It is the
rearranged soundtrack to a video production
of the same title made in 1984.
Donnerstag aus Licht is an opera by Karlheinz
Stockhausen.
Thursday is a post-hardcore band from New
Brunswick, New Jersey, formed in 1997.
"Thursday's Child" is a David Bowie song from
the album hours...(1999).
"Thursday's Child" is a song by The Chameleons
on Script of the Bridge.
Outlook for Thursday was a hit in New Zealand
for Dave Dobbyn.
In the Placebo song "Evil Dildo", the obscene
telephone message is left on Thursday the
23rd of an unknown month and year. The day
Thursday 23rd is often celebrated as Evil
Dildo day by Placebo fans.
Thursday" is the name of a mixtape by R&B
artist The Weeknd released in 2011.
References
