A History of Time - Seconds, Minutes, Hours, Days & Weeks

Why are there 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day and 7 days in a week? How did the days of the week get their names? Where did the two day weekend come from?
Part 2: Months and Years is available NOW exclusively for my patrons: / lindsayholiday
It will go live on KZbin on Tuesday, January 5th, 2021 at 12pm EST.
Time, it marches on relentlessly outside of human control. But humanity has long found a variety of ways to mark our passage through the eons. Seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years. But why do we count our collective journey through the ages in these integers? A day makes sense, that’s one rotation of the earth on its axis and can easily be marked by the rising and setting of the sun. And a year is one orbit of the earth around the sun, traveling through the 4 seasons again and again. But why 60 seconds in a minute, 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week and 12 months in a year? Let’s look back through history to learn the varied origins of these odd measures of time.
I make mini documentaries about women's history and royal history:
Queens of the World: • Queen Marie Antoinette...
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Sources:
en.wikipedia.org
www.britannica.com
www.englishmonarchs.co.uk
Music: "Dream Of The Ancestor" by Asher Fulero
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[@Inamichan]

Channels like this are great. They answer questions I’ve always wondered but usually forget to google 😂

[@motzerita6161]

Yes. I love this channel ❤️✨😀

[@HaydenReeves]

Imagine what life would be like if we just never had a sense of time. That would be insane

[@peterromeo4379]

Yeah, what month is it again?

[@Friendship1nmillion]

Maybe great during #Covid lockdown though? 😆

[@jaydentownsend5402]

This is the most stoner comment but I love it.

[@grammaticalchainsaw7318]

Some cultures do not actually have one, and their languages have no tenses in them. I think the Yucatán Maya??? Maybe. Interesting to think that our linear concept does not exist worldwide!

[@thetillerwiller4696]

I am they would measure thing by the posion of the sun and the seasons. They had time, but it wasn’t what we would consider time

[@brettlarch8050]

Seconds Minutes Hours Days Weeks Months Years Decades Centuries Millenniums Eons

[@Crosshill]

Seconds Minutes Hours Days Weeks Months Years Decades Centuries Millenniums Eons Covid

[@lyissdustyy._.lavender6399]

@@Crosshill lol

[@brettlarch8050]

@@Crosshill LMAO

[@isda3314]

@@Crosshill lmao xD

[@sussybussybaka1637]

Miliseconds: Am I A JoKE To YoU?!

[@tomurg]

“Time is an artificial concept we ourselves have created to make the limitlessness of eternity and the universe more bearable, more human” Robert Greene

[@bass_lander]

Robert Greene is a legend.

[@CSGray-nf2hx]

Time zones sound like a good idea, but looking at that map still confuses me as much as why we still put our clocks back and forward when we really don’t need to anymore

[@japanorbust]

True, and then there's the arbitrary administrative nature of it, like the fact that China decided to make their entire massive country just one time zone. Countries have the ability to declare their own relationship to time zones, including daylight saving time and similar systems.

[@mediocremaiden8883]

We still need to do it

[@gerryhouska2859]

@@mediocremaiden8883 No, we don't

[@idkanymore12]

I remember being so confused as a child when I’d see a time zone map. Actually, I’m still confused to this day

[@besticudcumupwith202]

...it makes better use of daylight hours. People always whine about the shift twice a year. I never really understood why tho. It's just one hour.

[@EmmaErsblabla]

I have a small addition to the names of the days of the week! While Saturday in English is still derived from Saturn, modern Scandinavian countries have their own weird name for it: The (here Danish bc that's what I am lol) word for Saturday is "lørdag" derived from "laugardagr" meaning basically "laundry day" (more 1:1 translation: "Day of warm water") - which I think is a peculiar and funny outlier compared to all the celestial names lol

[@whyareureadingthis2037]

I think she reading my mind, I was questioning myself this a few minutes ago

[@farzin5193]

Yeo sameeeee. Like KZbin wth brooo u listening to my thoughts now???😂😂😂

[@NichaelCramer]

“Why sixty?” is pretty straightforward. It’s divisible by 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20... Very convenient for any manipulations. (Likewise, by extension, with 360, you get even more convenient divisors: 8, 9, 18, 30, 45, etc.) On the other hand 10 is only divisible by 1, 2, and 5.

[@1ohtaf1]

60 isn't divisible by 8, 9 or 18...

[@NichaelCramer]

@@1ohtaf1 : You’re right of course. (I was writing “60” but was thinking “360”.) I’m adjusting the above. Thanks.

[@anssa6163]

@@1ohtaf1 those are the factors of 360

[@warmporridge882]

Fascinating! How do you always come up with new and interesting topics? Your well reasearched and well narrated videos are always a treat to me! Greetings from Germany!

[@SunshineJoe-cx8yz]

Great presentation. I have shared this video on my social media pages. I love your videos. Great Job.

[@LucieCornelia]

If anyone is wondering in Norway Wednesday's are called onsdag after Odin. I dont know how it became Wednesday but this might help.

[@japanorbust]

Woden is another name for Odin. The Wednesday part in English comes from Old English Wōdnesdæg and Middle English Wednesdei, "day of Woden".

[@LucieCornelia]

@@japanorbust That makes sense. Thank you!

[@bartolodimeglio2653]

I think that the German name of Wednesday is also intersting, Mittwoch. They scrapped the god's name and went with something that literally means "mid week".

[@LucieCornelia]

@@bartolodimeglio2653 Interesting

[@mediocremaiden8883]

The progression and evolution of language and dictation

[@mahparamuzammil6954]

Wow I never imagined that Thursday is named after Thor, I'm amazed keep it up Ma'am Lindsay.

[@steff.sanchez]

I'd love to see more history about the actual timepieces - from the sun dial to the candle with nails to later on pocket watches and modern smartwatches - (even the radium girls!) So interesting to go from needing your local church bells to tell you the hourly time versus the instantaneous digital watch! Thank you - awesome video as usual!

[@selinapersaud7629]

I’d really like to see that too. A video on time keeping, I mean, especially all the changes in the 19th century.

[@tyralodriqkes3604]

When she said Friday is frigg, I start laughing. I was like Yes, it's the friggin weekend! Get it! 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@emilybarclay8831]

Frog was a goddess of love and beauty and Friday is definitely the sexiest day so it checks out

[@ChibiProwl]

Cute! I got it. Nice pun.👍🤣

[@abandonedpast6410]

Thinking about time, tide, earth rotation etc. is so mind boggling, it's just amazing!!

[@projectshirostudios]

Good video but there was no mention of the labor groups of the late 1800s/early 1900s who fought long and hard for weekends and 40- hour work weeks.

[@est9949]

Now we need 4 work days

[@AimeeVignes]

Lindsay pronounces Spanish so beautiful and perfect 😍

[@erikaleonard2848]

Thank you Lindsay for another great lesson in history! 🥰

[@SunshineJoe-cx8yz]

Amazing description.

[@jamescharcoal3472]

Oooo! Also, I was wondering, me and Victoria took a picture together. Do you like it?

[@LucieCornelia]

Beautiful!

[@marieremelie6716]

Oh Albert!

[@smellydiarhhea7243]

You both look lovely :)

[@jonesvideo80]

Yeah

[@jonesvideo80]

@Levi Charles heh heh uh heh heh

[@Nisa_002]

Funfact: Just like Jews, Muslims have approximately two days off for the holiday. E.g. in the Ottoman empire, the schools, marketplaces and state institutions used to work Monday-Thursday noon. Then they were considered off from Thursday noon until Saturday morning and work at the weekends.

[@Laramaria2]

I didn't knew how much I needed this video until I saw it! 😍

[@rudolfmecklenburg5960]

If you have done a video about Maria Theresa, maybe do one about her nemesis, Frederick the Great of Prussia?

[@FcBow]

Great video! Slight correction, though: Tiw, or Tyr, is far from a "little known god." He is one of the most recognizable gods in the Norse pantheon beside Thor and Odin.

[@wolfzmusic9706]

well most people don’t know him. maybe he’s well known in scandinavia but I don’t know elsewhere

[@FreyaF...]

You make a fascinating video about time and it turns out to be more brief than most of your other videos.

[@OZ_industries]

ive been watching your vids the whole day 🤷‍♂️

[@joonlovescrabs]

Guys I’m so sad... I just realized I wasn’t subscribed to her this whole time :(

[@animelover7846]

Same! I thought I was. oh well I just subscribed :)

[@mangot589]

Well, that will make for some fun binge watching!😃

[@animelover7846]

Mango T yes! I need more history contact 😌

[@ellac.1258]

Ahhh same. I kept getting recommended her videos so I assumed I was subscribed!

[@ChibiProwl]

At least you are now.🥺👍

[@cheyenneysewijn7343]

Lindsay you are the channel I would have myself if I could choose :D I'm glad I can enjoy your videos x

[@sossyedits]

Lindsay thats so cool! Could you do one explaining the months too? Like why September sounds like 7 but is the 9th month etc? And why both July and August have 31 days? 😏

[@LindsayHoliday]

Next week!

[@shenanigans96]

@@LindsayHoliday Now I’m looking forward to the end of my vacation to watch your next video 😂

[@Friendship1nmillion]

August {too} is confusing as it sounds like it should be the 8th month. 😕🤔⌚

[@Sule3008]

September is called like that because during the roman Empire for some time it was the 7th month of the year but later, July and August were introduced in the Julian Calendar, named after Julius Caesar and Octavius Augustus, since they were introduced in the 7th and 8th month, every other month after them moved two places, Sept- (word stem of the number seven in Latin) ember became the 9th month, October (octo- is eight in Latin), the 10th, November (Nove is nine in Latin), the 11th and December (Dece is the stem of dix, ten) the 12th. Then you can find January which was named after Janus, the God which represented doors and new year. He was a double faced good which simbolizes the end and the beginning of the year and the two sides of a door! February was named after "februa" which is a Latin festivity, March was named after the god of war Mars, April was named after "Aprilis" or the openning of the flowers, May after Maya, the goddess of abundance, June after Juno, the goddess of home and family and that's it! I took three years of Latin in high school as it was compulsory in my high school in Spain (Madrid) so I learnt a lot about history and culture as well :)

[@joeanon8641]

@@Sule3008 ah I knew about why July/August existed but never knew the origins or meanings of the other months, that's so interesting! Does make me wonder though, how old was everyone before Cesar? Do/Have historians taken into account that the 10 month time period used would add a few years to someones age in comparison to modern times?

[@FormerFraggle]

I stumbled upon this channel while researching the Habsburg jaw, and I have become addicted! I love watching your videos! Thank you for making such informative and enjoyable content! 😁

[@SunshineJoe-cx8yz]

Me too.

[@timothybernal4890]

What if u did Lucrezia Borgia Lindsay! I love ur videos!!!

[@johnclerk1195]

Well, this answers a big question raised during the Downton Abbey series (season 2, I think). Dowager Countess of Grantham had to ask what is a weekend. Thank you!

[@tomdiggity3799]

What about the Aussies demanding a 8 hour work day ..... love your vids btw

[@Lucy0809]

Wow so much research and hard work! Thank you 🙏 xxx

[@christinatokarz80]

Thank you for making these! I watch them all. ♥️

[@michelleh6987]

Great video-short enough and simple explanations. I leaned a lot, thank you!

[@brettlarch8050]

When she said thor - I thought of the movie 😂

[@78jujubs]

the weekdays being named after Roman gods carries over to the french days of the week Monday = lundi. (the french word for moon is Lune) Tuesday = mardi. Wednesday = mercredi. Thursday = jeudi. Friday = vendredi. Saturday = samedi. Sunday = dimanche.

[@nuclearweiner6941]

Love your channel! By far one of my favorites ❤️

[@BB-or8gi]

Girl YES. Another great one for the books! LOVE LOVE LOVE all your videos!

[@PerfectlyImperfect93]

Thank You Lindsay!💕💕

[@midnightrain888]

This is so interesting to watch ☺️

[@unknownasianchick]

This actually blew my mind! Great video!

[@middleburyastrology]

Great video! Happy to bump into your channel, wonderful work going on here. Thank you!

[@supaspydamn]

Wow! Amazing video! Thank you 💖💖💖

[@liamnevard1591]

I love your channel! I would love to see another series like the history of English monarchs for a different country! (Maybe Scotland? Or Spain?)

[@sarson25]

Always an interesting video from you

[@shahadurrahman6205]

You are the best history teacher

[@asheland_numismatics]

My first video watched in 2021!

[@annaburch3200]

SOOOO cool! This explains a lot!! I studied French and now understand CLEARLY why they named the days of the week as they did. The change for English with Norse gods was an epiphany! Ohhhhhhh!! Now I'll be calling it THORSday. 😆

[@ebsssizzle4730]

loved this video ❣️ Your voice is so calm and gentle , I hope one day you could even get your own history show , I would defo watch it ❣️❣️

[@___toyatootrill]

I love your videos!! Just want you to know ! Keep em coming!

[@avoizing]

thank you for another AMAZING video!!!!!!

[@unibrowmexican9001]

Vey illustrative. I specially liked the charts. Thanks for making this video!

[@mm-xk5wi]

I love your videos. They are very informative and entertaining! 🤗🙌

[@ericam6144]

Notifications are now on, girl you have stepped up your game! I love the variety of videos you're putting out. I especially enjoyed your video about African queens and I hope to see more of the like!

[@Treadmill-Repairs]

What a great and fascinating video. Thank you.

[@daisyd6564]

So happy I found your channel!

[@carmenaidavilleda3330]

Amazing video!!! I always wanted to know why we had this time keeping system!!! Thank you!!!

[@TruthNeverFade]

The decimal system is great! And then there's America..

[@japanorbust]

Great video. Keep them coming!

[@torgeirbrandsnes1916]

Great vlog! Happy New Year from Norway!

[@maninedoow5895]

My intuition has been tingling. I was born on Wednesday October 16, 1996. I got into spirituality and healing is represented by green. I use that day to heal, etc. It’s also in the middle of the week.

[@rexpascual506]

I LOVE ❤ this video very informative! Thanks

[@randymanmaximus8419]

Always fascinating

[@croniky]

Great video thank you

[@marycavender7136]

Most informative! Interesting! Good diagrams. Worth going over again for review!!🎭🤔🌹👍❗

[@LadyHashZ]

You’re knowledge on interesting matters amaze me. I watched this twice to memorise some points to make for party convo lol

[@biancadew9967]

People in the past especially in Egypt are so smart!

[@Habibidance]

Great video!

[@jamellfoster6029]

Glad I get a full weekend off... I also only work 1/2 day on Fridays...

[@Diojenes.]

ive often wondered bout this exact topic

[@teganbarber9011]

It’s really interesting how they made the week and how it evolved over time

[@crystalfabulous]

Amazing

[@anarchistatheist1917]

Before late 1995 the first time zone or the first time zone to experience a new day was new zealand which is UTC+12 (or including daylight time UTC+13) but since then the line islands of Kiribati that are in the time zone of UTC+14 are the first place on the planet earth to experience a new day. It is 24 hours or 1 full day later then the Hawaiian Islands. While the last place to experience a new day is baker island and Howland island of the united states minor outlying islands which are in the time zone of UTC-12. which are 2 hours behind of Hawaii and 26 hours behind of Kiribati's line islands. So For example at 10:15 am on wednesday in places that are in the greenwich mean time zone it is 10:15 pm on tuesday on baker island and Howland island line islands and 26 hours later at 12:15 am thursday in Kiribati's line islands.

[@houndofzoltan]

You don't need to sync up your times to ring in the new year...everybody does it at their own time: unless you're abroad and want to celebrate ringing in the New Year back home.

[@illailla5813]

The water clocks are genius

[@assajventress3204]

"Hey cleopatra, whats the time?" "Its vulture, falcon, reed, reed, person standing like this AM".

[@My_mid-victorian_crisis]

Frigg is also the Queen of cats, her war chariot is pulled by 4-6 wild cats

[@PinkLilyGarden]

Please do the Romanoffs ❤️❤️

[@samzagod6606]

Hi pls do Margaret Tudor also happy new year

[@yolandajohnson8685]

I like this kind of stuff

[@HistoryandHeadlines]

What is your favorite system of dating, such as BC/AD, BCE/CE, the French Revolutionary calendar, etc.? So, not the OKCupid kind of "dating"! 😉

[@FreyaF...]

My favorite is BCE/CE because it includes everybody in the world (Jews, Islam, atheists, agnostics, Indians, etc.) Not just people who worship Christ. Even though I know it's incorrect, when I was around 9 or 10 years old, a classmate told me BC stands for BEFORE CHRIST and AD stands for AFTER DEATH (I don't know what BC stands for, but I know that AD stands for the Latin phrase ANNO DOMINI and anno means year, I don't know what domini means) but BCE stands for BEFORE THE COMMON ERA and CE stands for THE COMMON ERA. So it includes EVERYBODY.

[@mariod1547]

@@FreyaF... Domini means lord. So AD means year of our lord

[@FreyaF...]

@@mariod1547 Thank you very much.

[@mariod1547]

@@FreyaF... Anytime

[@alpe1987]

Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes

[@Rent-A-Mind]

Time to change the way we see time

[@Dollakas]

Whoa this is mad interesting

[@OmegaWolf747]

I'm so glad we had unions who fought for a reasonable week and hours.

[@umaakacutiepatootie6806]

Can you do a video of Adrienne de Noallies? Great video by the way!Made me learn alot.

[@ellac.1258]

Can you please do a video on the distinctions and origins of the title, role & duties of queens throughout the world (during history)?

[@laila.tov.]

Some countrys count the week starting by the Sunday and other by the Monday. In brazil we star by Sunday and Monday in portuguese is segunda-feira, wich translate do second and this follows to others days so Monday is second, Tursday thirth, Wednesday is fourth and so on, only sunday and satudary dont folow this pattern. Also in portugues days of the week should not star um in caps. Besides the usa I know that Germany stars the week on monday

[@pipe2devnull]

Roman: Thank Gods its H Day

[@strxberrishortcqke]

This made me snort lmao

[@maggienwillbyhigh]

I'm trying to find an explanation for my internal time conversion to the world time. It takes me 4 days to do things you do in a day. Your week feels like 50-hours day to me. I can envision a year in a minute. There should be 22 months in a year, wet and dry season in each season.

[@fpostolache]

Nice

[@DominiqueNoel0]

Japan and Korea also use the names of the planets for the days of the week. When I first noticed that I was kind of shocked, thought it was coincidence (obviously it wasn't)

[@katherinek2709]

I like how the roman gods are all chilling looking glorious and stuff and (I think) my man saturn is just casually knawing on somebody

[@jcqlopes]

Great video! Just a little correction, the word "Sábado" in Spanish (equal in pronunciation and writing in my native Portuguese) comes from the Hebrew word "Sabbath", meaning the resting day. While in English, the word "Saturday" indeed comes from "Saturn's Day".

[@yg2hj]

don't mind me, i'm gonna use these infos for my project 1:18 2:35 3:28 6:14

[@swazeyprice1676]

an idea for the Queens of the World series could be Empress Carlota of Mexico

[@michaelbauers8800]

The scientists defined a second in terms of some sort of average length of a day, divided by 24*60*60. Then they defined an atomic time standard, where atomic clocks count out seconds using this new definition of second. The old version simply insisted that the number of seconds in a day were tied to a solar day even though a solar day varies in length. Because solar time varies, International Atomic Tme ( TAI) drifts from observed solar time ( UT1.) So a number of leap seconds are added to account for the difference. UTC, universal coordinated time is arrived at by applying a leap second adjustment to TAI. TAI is an average of a bunch of atomic clocks all over the world. UTC is what we often call Greenwitch Mean Time, based on a solar day, but fixed at the zero meridian so it doesn't change with your longitude. There's actually quite a few ways to measure time depending on your needs. For example we could talk about sidereal days, which are based on an observer on earth observing a passing day based on a star, rather than the sun. A sidereral day is a bit shorter than a solar day, just under 4 minutes shorter I believe.

[@chantintin10]

Please do a video about the last Romanov family and their personalities. Also, please do Queen Charlotte.

[@LucasOrtega-ry1ss]

May u please do queen liliuokalani of hawai’i, thank you!

[@daguard411]

I was lucky in that I was raised in Japan (Nippon) and my Mom and Dad made sure we experienced the local culture. There, the calendar is started with the first year of an Emperor. As for the five day workweek, you might like to look into the Haymarket Affair. It was a labor rally that turned ugly as the police were used to breakup the event. Men went to the gallows with no actual evidence, and what they were protesting for was a five day work week.

[@isda3314]

Cool!