Escaped Thoughts

Wed, Jan 26, 2005

The Triumphant Return of the Language Quiz

That's right, it's back by popular demand! I fully intend for it to be a (semi-)regular feature, and in celebration of that commitment I have created a new language category (and moved my previous language-related posts into it).

This week's quiz has a whole host of answers, so everyone can be a winner. Yes, you there, you could be a winner! Step right up! 100 points per correct answer! The goal is to give the origin of as many of the following names for days of the week as possible—no full etymology necessary, just the root meaning (i.e., who or what it is named for):

English: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
French: Dimanche, Lundi, Mardi, Mercredi, Jeudi, Vendredi, Samedi
German: Sonntag, Montag, Dienstag, Mittwoch, Donnerstag, Freitag, Samstag

Have at!

Other's Thoughts

From the mind of Carolyn - Wed, Feb 02, 2005

Well, the sun, the moon,Tiw,Woden,Thor,Frig,Saturn. The German ones are clearly named after reindeer. And the French word for Tuesday is named after Mardi Gras! How many points is that?

From the mind of Stuart - Tue, Mar 15, 2005
The winner is...

Not much suspense here, I guess. 700 points for the English, and 50 for the reindeer.

The rest of the answers are:
French: God (through some weird mangling), the moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, the sabbath
German: the sun, the moon, ethier "assembly day" or an archaic form of Tiw (Thinxus) depending on who you believe, mid-week, Thor, Frig, the sabbath



This return turned out not to be so triumphant, so the future of the language quiz is less certain. I guess I'll just go back to a "when ever" feature, rather than trying to make it regular.

From the mind of Carolyn - Mon, Apr 11, 2005

Well you have one loud vote for continuing language quizzes. I don't mind if there's no competition!

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