_Planets._ _Latin._ _French._ _Sanskrit._ 1 Saturn 1 Dies Saturni Samedi (dies Saui-vāra sabbati) 2 Jupiter 6 Dies Solis Dimanche Ravi-vāra (dominicus) 3 Mars 4 Dies Lunæ Lundi Soma-vāra 4 Sun 2 Dies Martis Mardi Bhauma-vāra 5 Venus 7 Dies Mercurii Mercredi Brihaspati-vāra 7 Moon 3 Dies Veneris Vendredi Sukra-vāra _Planets._ _Old Norse._ _Anglo-Saxon._ _English._ 1 Saturn 1 laugardagr sätres däg Saturday (washing day) 2 Jupiter 6 sunnadagr sunnan däg Sunday 3 Mars 4 mânadagr monan däg Monday 4 Sun 2 tysdagr tives däg Tuesday 5 Venus 7 odhinsdagr vôdenes däg Wednesday 6 Mercury 5 thôrsdagr thunores däg Thursday 7 Moon 3 friadagr frige däg Friday _Planets._ _Old-High _Middle-High _German._ German._ German._ 1 Saturn 1 sambaztag (sunnûn samztac (sunnen Samstag âband) âbent) (Sonnabend) 2 Jupiter 6 sunnûn dag sunnen tac Sonntag 3 Mars 3 mânin tac (?) mân tac Montag 4 Sun 2 ziuwes tac (cies zies tac (zies Dienstag dac) tac) 5 Venus 7 wuotanes tac (?) mittwoch Mittwoch (mittawecha) 6 Mercury 5 donares tac donres tac Donnerstag 7 Moon 3 fria dag frîtac Freitag After the names of the week-days had once been settled, we have no difficulty in tracing their migration towards the East and towards the West. The Hindus had their own peculiar system of reckoning days and months, but they adopted at a later time the foreign system of counting by weeks of seven days, and assigning a presiding planetary deity to each of the seven days, according to the system described above. As the Indian name of the planet Mercury was Budha, the _dies Mercurii_ was naturally called _Budha-vâra_ but never _Buddha-vâra_; and the fact that the mother of Mercury was called Maia, and the mother of Buddha Mâyâ, could, therefore, have had no bearing whatever on the name assigned to the Indian Wednesday.(56) The very Buddhists, in Ceylon, distinguish between buddha, the enlightened, and budha, wise, and call Wednesday the day of Budha, not of Buddha.(57) Whether the names of the planets were formed in India independently, or after Greek models, is difficult to settle. The name of Budha, the knowing or the clever, given to the planet Mercury, seems, however, inexplicable except on the latter hypothesis. Having traced the origin of the Sanskrit name of the _dies Mercurii_, Budha-vâra, let us now see why the Teutonic nations, though perfectly ignorant of Buddhism, called the same day the day of Wodan.