شنبه, շաբաթ, سبت, შაბათი, Σάββατο

Farsi شنبه [šanbe], Armenian շաբաթ [šapʰatʰ], Arabic سبت [sabt], Georgian შაბათი [šabatʰi] and Greek Σάββατο [sávvato] all denote Saturday, mirroring Hebrew שבת [šabat] '(the day of) rest'. No wonder Sunday in Farsi is called یکشنبه [yekšanbe] 'one (day after) Saturday'; Monday in Arabic اثنين [iþnayn] 'two (days after Saturday)'; Tuesday in Armenian երեքշաբթի [jerekšaptʰi] 'three (days after) Saturday'; Wednesday in Georgian ოთხშაბათი [otxšabatʰi] 'four (days after) Saturday'; Thursday in Portuguese quinta-feira 'fifth weekday (after Saturday)' and, finally, Friday in Greek παρασκευή [paraskeví] 'preparation (day for Saturday)'. The fact that Wednesday in Slavic is called sreda 'middle', in German Mittwoch 'midweek' and in Icelandic miðvikudagur 'midweekday' indicates that, some time in the past, the week started on Sunday and ended on Saturday. The gradual shift from the Jewish tradition (Armenian շաբաթ [šapʰatʰ] 'Saturday; week') to the Christian (Georgian კვირა [k'vira] 'Sunday; week', from Greek κυριακή [kyriakí] '{day} of the Lord') to the Islamic tradition (Swahili {i}juma{a} 'Friday; week', from Arabic جمعة [žumuʕa] '{day of} congregation; week') is remarkable, Swahili weekdays being the most revealing: Jumamosi 'week('s) first (day), Saturday'; Jumapili 'week('s) second (day), Sunday'; Jumatatu 'week('s) third (day), Monday'; Jumanne 'week('s) fourth (day), Tuesday'; Jumatano 'week('s) fifth (day), Wednesday'; Alhamisi 'Thursday', the week's sixth and last day before Ijumaa 'the gathering day', Friday'. Paradoxically, Alhamisi – itself a borrowing from Arabic الخميس [alxamīs] 'Thursday' – literally denotes 'the fifth (day after Saturday)'!

When nothing else matters