It was deemed unlucky to commence ploughing (stretching the team, as it was called, _sìneadh na seisrich_), or any kind of work on Monday. It will be proceeded with too quickly or too slowly, according to the adage, “Work commenced on Monday, Will be (too) quick or will be (too) slow.”[75] It was deemed, however, a good day for removing or “flitting” upon, just as Saturday was the reverse. “Saturday removal is to the north, Monday removal to the south, Though I had but a lamb On Monday I would it remove.”[76] Old men called it “the key of the week” (_iuchair na seachdain_). _Di-màirt_, TUESDAY. The name is obviously enough from _dies martis_, the Latin name. This was a good day to begin ploughing upon, and it was ominous of good luck if any of the harness broke and the ploughing was stopped for the day. Such a belief could exist only in the easy-going olden days. _Di-Ciadain_, WEDNESDAY. Much ingenuity has been spent on the etymology of this word by those who delight in recondite meanings, and believe that every word in Gaelic must be traced to a Gaelic origin. What Lhuyd says of radicals and primitives is equally applicable to other words. It is a very common error in etymology to endeavour to derive all the radical words of our Western European languages from the Latin or Greek; or indeed to _derive the Primitives of any one language from any particular tongue_. When we do this we seem to forget that all have been subject to alterations, and that the greater and more polite any nation is, the more subject they are (partly from improvement, and partly out of a luxurious wantonness) to remodel their language. Nearly all words connected with ecclesiastical affairs both in English and Gaelic have been imported from the Latin and Greek, undergoing only such changes as the difference of language requires. When or why the name of a Scandinavian deity, and not a Roman name, was adopted by the British and Irish churches to designate this or any other day is a different question. We must seek (and this is a rule lamentably neglected by Gaelic etymologists), the true explanation of words in any language that offers one that is probable and rational; otherwise we make “a useful art ridiculous,” and the etymologist degenerates into “a trifling conjecturer.” The Latin name of this day is _dies mercurii_, which name was adopted in the Welsh, Cornish, and Armoric, but the Teutonic names are derived from the Scandinavian deity _Odin_ or _Woden_, who was supposed to correspond to Mercury. This was the designation adopted in Gaelic, both Irish and Scottish. Like the French the Gaelic has no _w_, and represents that sound by _g_ or _c_. Thus, _gad_, withe; _gul_, wail; _cosd_, waste; _clòimh_, wool; _cnuimh_, worm; _curaidh_, warrior, etc. Sometimes, as pointed out under Whitsuntide (_caingis_), the corresponding English sound is _wh_. So _Woden’s_-day, Wednesday, became _Di-ceden_.