Happy Humpday

Happy Humpday! I said this to a colleague today and she looked at me with a puzzled look on her face. She is from Russia and I'm quite sure she had not heard this term for the day of the week we call Wednesday. This started the small group of us in the office talking about the many different ways to refer to the day of the week we call Wednesday, and since some in the group are not native English speakers we started to compare notes on how to say 'Wednesday' in other languages, and to the etymology of Wednesday.

In German it is Mittwoch (mid week); In French -- mercredi; Italian -- mercoledì (Mercury Day); Danish -- onsdag (Odin's Day); Russian -- sreda (среда); Polish -- sroda (or middle).

According to the Online Etymology Dictionary we in the English speaking world call this day Wednesday because of the viking (Old Norse) word Oðinsdagr (Odin's Day). And there you have it, we call this day Wednesday because of the Vikings.