From Old English 'wicu' and Proto-Germanic *wiko (a turning, succession) — the cyclical seven-day period.
Definition
A period of seven consecutive days, typically reckoned from Sunday or Monday.
The Full Story
Old Englishbefore 900 CEwell-attested
From Old English 'wicu' or 'wice,' meaning a sequence of days, from Proto-Germanic *wikō, meaning 'a turning, succession, change.' The root is PIE *weyk- (to bend, wind, turn), reflecting the concept of time as a revolving cycle. The seven-day week was not native to Germanic peoples; it was adopted from the Roman planetary week during late antiquity, which itself drew on Babylonian astronomical traditions. Germanic languages calqued the Roman planet-day names
Did you know?
The word 'week' literally means 'a turning' — the ancient Germanicpeoplesconceived of the seven-day cycle as a revolution or shift, the way we might say 'the turn of the week.'
, alternation), also from *weyk-, which gave English 'vicissitude' and 'vice versa.' Key roots: *wikō (Proto-Germanic: "turning, succession, change"), *weik- (Proto-Indo-European: "to bend, to wind").