Why the Korean days of the week came from Latin | Korean FAQ

This video details how the names of the weekdays we use in English (and many other languages) come from the same source as the Romans - including Korean’s weekday system of 일요일, 월요일, 화요일, 수요일, 목요일, 금요일, and 토요일.
More about the Seven-Day Week: www.crowl.org/l...
More about the Korean calendar: en.wikipedia.o...
More about how these were brought through China to Japan: www.cjvlang.com...
Why is the last name 金 (금) read as 김? • Why the Last Name “Kim...
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Music by Kevin MacLeod: “MJS Strings" and “Brightly Fancy.” (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 (creativecommons...)

[@AJansenNL]

Erm... not the Germans of Germany. Rather the Germanic peoples. Way before modern Germany and German.

[@GoBillyKorean]

I realized this later but it was too late to re-record it. Oh well.... Thanks for watching!

[@iap616]

Sunday: 日曜日, nichiyoubi Monday: 月曜日, getsuyoubi Tuesday: 火曜日, kayoubi Wednesday: 水曜日, suiyoubi Thursday: 木曜日, mokuyoubi Friday: 金曜日, kinyoubi Saturday: 土曜日, doyoubi this means japanese days name also comes from latin. the kanji i give is also the hanja of korean day name

[@GoBillyKorean]

Yes, it means the same for Japanese :)

[@Niemja395]

Because I also know a bit of french I actually noticed this about a year ago and was so amazed that I wrote a very short post about it. However I realised, it was kind of a niche interest 😅 and I did not recieve many responses. My original post was this "I just stumbled on something I want to share. In French Planet names and days of the week are linked, eg. Tuesday - Mardi - Mars; Wednesday - Mercredi - Mercury; Thursday - Jeudi - Jupiter; Friday - Vendredi - Venus. I already knew that, but I saw that in Korean it seems to be exactly parallel: Tuesday - 화요일 - 화성; Wednesday - 수요일 - 수성; Thursday - 목요일- 목성; Friday - 금요일- 금성. I thought this was quite interesting, especially that the exact same days of the week and planets are linked. Does anybody know more about the history behind this?"

[@Unlesslight]

Apparently it's due to their order of appearance in the sky : sun, moon, mars, Mercury, Jupiter and Venus (and Saturn, but in French Saturday is Sabbat Day, that's why you don't see Saturn in Samedi)

[@JackTribe13]

Didn't know the Korean names correspond with the Latin ones, that's really cool! One small correction though, I think you mean Germanic, not German. It's easy to confuse them. Germanic was a group of languages that in turn consisted of West Germanic (that eventually branched off into German, English and Dutch, among others), East Germanic (of which there are no languages that are spoken today) and North Germanic (that eventually became Old Norse, which then branched off into Icelandic, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian and Faroese). In other words, it was the Vikings (or their ancestors) that gave us the names Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, named after their gods (just like you said). It was NOT the Germans 😄

[@JackTribe13]

RobWords has a great video on the subject of Old Norse words that remain in the English language from contact with the Vikings. There are a lot of them!

[@GoBillyKorean]

Right, I said "German" just to clarify where the languages are from when filming, but when I was editing the video I realized that I should've said Germanic. Again, I should also clarify I'm not a specialist in any languages other than Korean :-D

[@kmwsavaki]

02:37 빌리 선생님, 말씀대로 오행은 우주 만물을 나무, 불, 흙, 쇠, 물의 다섯가지 기운으로 일컫는 말이므로 금요일의 금은 쇠 금(金)으로 읽기에 모든 금속을 통틀어 이르는 말로 황금 즉 Gold 가 아닌 금속(金屬) Metal 이 맞을듯 합니다.

[@wendyscribbles]

Korea: "We're going to keep it simple" The rest of the world : "Nah, let's confuse everybody."

[@kris_atiny]

Hi Billy, I'm Italian from Rome 😊 and this lesson was very useful. Thanks❤

[@Emma-iv6ug]

Billy, thanks so much for everything you do ☺️ thanks to your books and videos, I was able to write a Korean letter to a pen pal and actually got one back today :) it’s really exciting for me. I have only been learning for four months and I definitely want to keep learning with you.

[@_filifjonkan4290]

Wow, 4 years already here, no letter writing on the horizon… great job you did

[@TheCyanScreen]

German here! Fun fact: Wednesday apparently was too difficult to keep and so it's "Mittwoch" now, which means "middle of the week". Also, Thursday is "Donnerstag" in German which means "Thunder-day" because of Thor's powers.

[@learnkoreanwithKorean]

요 means shinig 일 means day --> 월 moon + 요 shining + 일 day = 월요일 monday

[@SuAmazing]

what? so literally is 'moon shining day?'

[@learnkoreanwithKorean]

@@SuAmazing Yes , 화 Mars 요 shining 일 day , 일 sun 요 shining 일 day…..

[@SuAmazing]

@@learnkoreanwithKorean oh, so it's like "today is the day for Mars to shine'

[@riotxvann]

Nunca pensé que el Coreano me llevaría a aprender tanto!! Me encanta.

[@medaltop1736]

In Chinese, we used to use 曜日 like Japan and Korea, but today we just use 周（week), Monday is week one，Tuesday is week two and so on,or 星期（period or cycle of star, means week),Monday is 星期一 ，weekone。 someone also use 礼拜 means worship, 礼拜一 is Monday

[@janina_]

only know that in the Nordic languages the weekdays originate from Norse pagan gods that are similar to the Romans. Edit: In Swedish Monday - Måndag Tuesday - Tisdag Wednesday - Onsdag Thursday - Torsdag Friday - Fredag Saturday - Lördag Sunday - Söndag

[@glassartist1726]

I am an etymology junkie……Sino ->Greco Roman-> Germanic and all nations between and hence! this lesson rocked 🤘.

[@alejandrarivera9130]

It was very interesting seeing it from this new point of view! I had learned the Korean days of the week under the different energies point of view.

[@SuAmazing]

yees, this point of view is very interesting

That explain why the day in French are like this as well! Lundi : Lune (moon) Mardi : Mars Mercredi : Mercury Jeudi : Jupiter Vendredi : Venus Samedi : Saturn Dimanche : (??? Sun is "soleil" in french)

[@GoBillyKorean]

My guess is it's just a religious reason - like saying "Sabbath Day" in French.

[@Avionne_Parris]

Awesome video, Billy! I LOVE a linguistic deep dive :-) Two things: (1) I've always been a moonchild with an unexplicable devotion to the moon that my four year old nephew and I share which I now know why; we're both born on Mondays or "moon days". (2) In Spanish, the days of the week translations are: Domingo = Sunday; Lunes = Monday (lunar - moon); Martes = Tuesday (Mars); Miércoles = Wednesday (Mercury); Jueves = Thursday (Jupiter); Viernes = Friday (Venus); Sábado = Saturday (Saturn).

[@BlobOfZero]

Omg this was so interesting and insightful and helped me remember the days a bit better thank you for the lesson Billy!

[@thaagirrasaurusjr5443]

I love videos like this! Understanding the root of a word gives more context to it and I'm able to remember it better by association.

[@preciouslafleur5390]

I loved this thanks a lot. I think this is why I love studying language. Since childhood I always wondered where words come from. Thank you for all that you do. You are a great teacher.

[@kellygb4370]

Great video! I already new about the origin of the English names, but you definity add details... My mother tongue is Portuguese and when I was young I learned the English names without thinking too much about why there were like that. Then, when I was learning Spanish, this planets/gods relation appers to me... and when I saw Lunes / Luna = Monday /Moon and Sunday / Sun, I searched to see if there was a link... and now you add Korean here... my mind exploded...

[@auricia201]

Learning days of the week, plus name of planets, plus name of the elements at the same time \o/ good day for those of us with small memories 😅 Meanwhile, in Portuguese, Monday to Friday is literally "the second day" to " the 6th day" 😆

[@PhamMinhThu276]

oh wow, Vietnamese days of week is the same as Portugese, how cool! Only Sunday we call it "the day of God"

[@deliarmh2946]

In Spanish this matches as well Domingo- yeah this doesn’t fit tbh. Now I need to do some research Lunes- Luna (Spanish word for moon) Martes- Marte (Mars) Miércoles- Mercurio Jueves- Júpiter Viernes- Venus Sábado- Saturno

[@tammybeard3776]

Didn't know that the Korean names corresponded to Latin naming conventions. But yes, knew about the others. Homeschooled my children and ancient civilizations were a huge part of our studies.

[@sonia4661]

일요일 Sunday. The ancient Greeks called the Sun 'Helios' which is still used to this day though pronounced ILYO. Later, the Romans changed that name to Sun. The Greek word for Sun is pronounced 일요 (ilyo) or (ilios) depending on grammar. To say 'the Sun' in Greek is either 또 일요 or 어 일요스. I think there has to be some connection between the two.

[@GoBillyKorean]

There isn't any relationship as far as I know, since 일 in Korean comes from Chinese and is used across many words. The 요 is also unrelated and is used with every day of the week (일요일, 월요일, 화요일, etc.).

[@sonia4661]

@@GoBillyKorean Hi Billy, I just found it interesting that there was a similarity. Also, the Greek & Korean word for Yes are exactly the same.

[@GoBillyKorean]

@@sonia4661 These sort of things are called "false cognates" and there are tons of them with different languages :)

[@JamesTermy]

Right at the 2 minute mark I didn't follow how "일" is sun and "월" is moon, I played it back a few times and still do not follow. Very fascinating explanation, I wished it talked about the 5 elements a little more as I wrote those down, but can't follow what those mean yet either. I am a beginner.

[@GoBillyKorean]

It might be better for viewers who are familiar with a little bit of Hanja, but the Hanja for 일 is used to mean "day" and comes from the meaning of "sun." You can start learning about Hanja here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iXa4o2uqbMZqsKM

[@earnestlanguage4242]

5 Elements in Korean & Chinese 수 su water 🌊水 shǔi , 화 hwa fire 🔥火huǒ , 목 mok wood🌳🪵木 mǔ, 금 geum gold🏆金 jin, 토 to earth 🌱🪨土 tú But like Billy said, Tuesday is 화요일 hwayo-il, fire day, and Wednesday is 수요일suyo-il water day. I'm guessing that may come from the traditional association of Mars with the color red, and fire being more red than water. I really enjoyed this topic! I'm a Latin teacher studying Chinese and Korean and etymology is my favorite!

[@morgannavel4552]

The days of the week comes from our system's planet for example in French "Jeudi" which is Thursday come from the planet Jupiter which comes from Roman's gods

[@emmu__]

Your videos actually help so much, thankyou

[@joanaruizz]

This is great, truly. It's always interesting to know where words come from and how they tell and shape a culture's history. What blew my mind is that I actually taught this in class today (I'm an English teacher). Thank you Billy for all the Korean insights, you're a great teacher! One question: are the planets named after the elements then? thx!

[@GoBillyKorean]

My guess is yes, the planets are named after the elements. But I can't really say anything further than what I share in this video, because it would be out of my specialty. As it is already, this video covers topics I'm not very knowledgeable about (such as Latin).

[@TravelEndleslie]

Interesting fact.

[@cuzimcait]

Super cool vid! Ty!

[@erikjohansson2703]

Thursday is named after the Norse god Thor and similarly Friday is named after the god Frigg

[@VanTran-bw4vj]

Gansahomnida weol hwa soo mok geum to il.

[@ana1977x]

Omg I just realized this lol cuz in French they are all named after the planets Lundi Mardi Mercredi Jeudi Vendredi Samedi Dimanche

[@bano363]

More etymology please!

[@malenalucero6473]

I didn't know about the English days of the week. In Spanish it's just like the planets.

[@chonglisun]

I think it is the same as Japanese if you were to write those days in Hanja: 日曜日 (일요일) 月曜日 (월요일) 火曜日 (화요일) 水曜日 (수요일) 木曜日 (목요일) 金曜日 (금요일) 土曜日 (토요일)

[@GoBillyKorean]

Yes, because both languages share Hanja words from the Chinese language.

[@ashishmishra673]

Very informative, Korean names of the planets.

[@44percentstronger]

About: "no one messes with Saturn". I am not sure if this is the reason, but Saturn (Chronos) was the god of time and, since time "devours" everything, in the Greek mythology he was devouring his children (he also ate them up 'cause there was a prophecy that he would be dethroned by them).

[@LandgraabIV]

The equivalent of Saturn in Greek mythology is not Chronos, the personification of time, but Cronos (also spelled Kronos), the Titan father of Zeus. Different gods altogether.

[@TragaOfficial]

Great video thanks

[@cammystorm]

I believe the Greeks took the idea from the Babylonians. Thank you for making this video. I think it’s a really interesting subject.

[@wolf-bass]

너무 너무 흥미로와요! 항상 이게 궁금했군요. 빌리 선생님 고맙습니다! (그나저나 선생님의 독일 발음이 나쁘지 않아요.^^)

[@douglassmalone-omeally1683]

This legit blew my mind

[@muzikk67]

I was going to hunt for an explanation of the saturday joke/reference but 10 seconds later, and now Idk if one exists 😅

[@SuAmazing]

waah, i guess this is my favorite faq video

[@Nunyuh_Business]

This is really neat. Feels more like an English lesson than a Korean lesson but I appreciate it nonetheless haha. I was always curious about this but never really took the time to research it myself.

[@tommytam6433]

日月火水木金土 ☀️🌙🔥💦🪵⚱️🪨

[@rosemarywong8006]

Roger that

[@melaniesaunders5101]

This has been bothering me for AGES who knew the real legacy of the roman empire was the seven day week

[@hoi9908]

아니 한국인인 저도 처음알았네요...😅