Days of the Week: Tuesday

The Romans named the third day of the week for Mars, their fearless, brutal, relentless god of war. For the Vikings, though, this was Tyr. Tyr was a “god of battles, the foster-father of the wolf, and the one-handed god” (according to the Prose Edda). Tyr lost his hand to Fenrir the wolf long ago, but only because he was brave enough and resolute enough to bind the creature.

Vikings looked at Tyr as the god of justice. They called his day, Tyr’sDay (in Old Norse: Tysdagr). However, our pronunciation comes from Tyr’s Anglo-Saxon name Tiw, (hence, Tiwesdaeg). Devoted as it always has been to the god of war, Tuesday is still the day of the week that always seems to be all-business.