Note 688 — Chapter VI · LUNAR CALENDARS AND THE WEEK
Reading edition
Italian domenica, sabbato; Spanish domingo, sabado; French dimanche, samedi, etc. But the heathen names of even these two days continued for a long time in popular use, as is evident from the words of Gregory of Tours: Ecce enim dies Solis adest, sic enim barbaries vocitare diem dominicam consueta est (Historia Francorum, iii, 15). The other weekdays (Monday to Friday) in the calendar of the Roman Church follow the Jewish usage in being numbered, not named: feria secunda, feria tertia, feria quarta, feria quinta, and feria sexta (Isidore of Seville, Etymologiæ sive origines, v, 30). In Portugal the influence of the Church was strong enough to secure the general adoption of this mode of reckoning, instead of the planetary sequence; and here Monday is still called feira segunda, Tuesday, feira terça, etc. It is curious to find the old Roman term for a holy day thus employed to refer to the weekdays that are particularly devoted to secular occupations. The origin of the practice has not been satisfactorily explained.