French Days Of The Week

[petal54]

have gotten mildly bugged re the French word for sunday is 'back to front' compared to the rest of Frenchspellings for week days,can someone explain why this is so for this dim whit'

[-Talbot-]

No idea but I don't think there is any h in dimwit

[cashier]

Dimanche is the word can't see why it is back to front.

[Barmaid]

I think the OP means that the others all end in di whereas Sunday starts with it.

[New Judge]

If you mean that all the others end with "-di" and Sunday begins with "di" then you are correct. But I'm as dim as you because I don't know why it should b.

[petal54]

many thanks,just started to bug

[Jackdaw33]

There are many inconsistencies in French (and other languages). For example the first of the month is an ordinal number but the rest are cardinal numbers.

[Bazile]

The English language must be very frustrating to learn for a non speaker - for example same words and phrases having different meanings

[Jackdaw33]

Not only that, the plethora of tenses, the fact that spelling is not phonetic and the fact that words are pronounced differently with the same spelling and it is a wonder that anyone manages to learn English.

[naomi24]

Well spotted. That's never occurred to me. Like everyone else, I don't know the answer either.

[gingejbee]

Of course it's Di- at the beginning....it has a weak-end....
The French for "lime" is "citron vert"...green lemon. Daft, eh?

[Jackdaw33]

I think the point is that logically it should be manchedi, but that would sound ugly to the ear and the French are fond of assonance.

[Flonska]

I believe that the word dimanche for Sunday is derived from the old French demenche which in turn has it roots in the latin Dominica. Unlike other days of the week e.g. Mon-day, (French = Lun-di) which is ascribed to the "moon" - languages (incl Italian = Domenica) followed the convention that this was the most important day of the week - acknowledged to be "The Day of the Lord."

[Jackdaw33]

I think you're spot on, Flonska. I was thinking along the lines of Dominica, meaning the Lord's day.

[naomi24]

Flonska, sounds feasible.

[Flonska]

Thank you Jackdaw but if it is not as accurate as you suggest, I should like to think it is a reasonable explanation but of course, it is open to scrutiny and may be corrected by someone better informed.

[Flonska]

Likewise . . . Naomi :-)

[Jackdaw33]

The word Dominical is still used in the RC church. A dominical mass is a Sunday mass held early Saturday evening so those who attned can have the rest of the weekend off with a clear conscience.

[Prudie]

And the Spanish for Sunday is Domingo