Saturday

Saturday is the day of the week following Friday and preceding Sunday. Saturday is the seventh and therefore last day of the week according to many commonly used calendars, and it is the second-to-last (sixth) day of the week according to ISO 8601 (see below). The Romans named Saturday Sāturni diēs ("Saturn's Day") no later than the 2nd century for the planet Saturn, which controlled the first hour of that day, according to Vettius Valens.[citation needed] The day's name was introduced into West Germanic languages and is recorded in the Low German languages such as Middle Low German sater(s)dach, Middle Dutch saterdag (Modern Dutch zaterdag) and Old English Sætern(es)dæġ and Sæterdæġ. However, the name was selected as a calque of the god Saturn, after whom the planet was named. The day was also referred to as "Sæternes dæġe" in an Old English translation of Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People. In Old English, Saturday was also known as sunnanæfen ("sun" + "eve" cf. dialectal German Sonnabend).