Friday :: Germanic Mythology Language Essays

FridayE rattling Monday at work, I hear people complaining that they wish it would be Friday already. Everyone waits for this exsert day of the working week with excite manpowert and eagerness. Friday represents the completion of the week, and at the very(prenominal) time, the beginning of the weekend. The origins of the word Friday take their roots from Norse mythology, when this day sensation rejuvenation, and at the same time loss, death or completion. In diverse cultures, this day has numerous meanings and is perceived both positively and with anxiety. The meaning of Friday was continue through centuries, and today we still use the pagan name of Friday as well as pagan names for other days of the week in the English language. Friday has come a long way from the Anglo-Saxon frigedaeg or from the Old High German Freyja, a goddess of love and magnificence. In Germanic mythology Freyja was portrayed as the goddess of youth, beauty, and sexual love. She was married to Odur, but he left her to travel around the world. Afterward, Freyja was depicted weeping, and her tears were drops of gold. Freyjas most famed possession was her necklace, Brising (necklace of the dwarfs), given to her by the dwarfs in exchange for her having sexual colloquy with them. Often in myths Freyja is accused of having sexual intercourse with many men and gods. Also Freyja is known as a patron of married couples and is very fond of love ditties, and all lovers would do well to invoke her, jibe to the Prose Edda (Mercatante 264). However, besides being the patron of marriage and goddess of fertility, Freyja is portrayed as the goddess of battle and death. She claimed half of the dead warriors killed in battles and received them in her region of Folkvang. Odur, her husband, received the other half of warriors at Valhalla. The fact that Friday was held sacred to this goddess of fertility and death signifies that inhabitants of ancient England perceived this day as the beginning and at the same time as the completion of their weekly activities, or by chance life. Although in various cultures the meaning of Friday differs, there are numerous similarities, which fanny be traced down to the common source. In Norse mythology, where paganism reign religious and cultural settings, Friday was considered to be the day of love and a not bad(predicate) day to put a beginning to various activities such as farming or a conception of a child.