The fear of Friday the 13th has been called friggatriskaidekaphobia (Frigga being the name of the Norse goddess for whom "Friday" is named and triskaidekaphobia meaning fear of the number thirteen), or paraskevidekatriaphobia a concatenation of the Greek words Paraskeví (meaning "Friday"), and dekatreís (meaning "thirteen") attached to phobía (meaning "fear"). The latter word was derived in 1911 and first appeared in a mainstream source in 1953.
In Spanish-speaking countries, instead of Friday, Tuesday the 13th is considered a day of bad luck. The Greeks also consider Tuesday, and especially the 13th, to be an unlucky day. Tuesday is considered to be dominated by the influence of Ares, the god of war. A connection can be seen in the etymology of the name in some European languages The Fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans happened on Tuesday, May 29, 1453, fact that strengthens the superstition about Tuesday. In addition, in Greek the name of the day is Triti meaning literally the third day of the week, adding weight to the superstition, since bad luck is said to "come in threes". (Although some believe the first day of the week is Monday since the seven day is consider "the day of rest" and that day is Sunday - you do the math!)
In Italian popular culture, Friday the 17th (and not the 13th) is considered a day of bad luck. In fact, in Italy, 13 is generally considered a lucky number. However, due to Anglo-Saxon influence, young people consider Friday the 13th to be unlucky as well.
Have a great day and weekend!
Aint Skairt!!! :)
ReplyDeleteWell, you learn something every day! :D
ReplyDeleteWasn't this fun? Thanks for sharing, Danielle!
ReplyDeleteBecause I'm weird, I had to check to see if my daughter was born on a Tuesday because her bday is the 13th of August. She was a Sunday's child, so phew! Although her 13th bday will be on a Tuesday.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting! (And I love the look of your blog, by the way!)
ReplyDeleteThat was interesting. Today is my mom's birthday, and also my granddaugher's. Both can be stubborn and onery; so maybe they have a bit of the god Ares in them :)
ReplyDeleteTuesdays have never been my favorite day.
.......dhole
I almost titled my latest book Triskaidecophobia or however you spell it, just plain fear of the number 13, but I decided it was too long and cut it to just be titled Phobic. I didn't know the Frigga one though, it's kinda fun to say! :D
ReplyDeleteLOL now I never knew that. It shows how silly superstitions are. Great fun post
ReplyDeleteI am afraid of most Fridays, because they are my normal Mondays (I get Wed/Thurs off usually).
ReplyDeleteI think the only thing that could have made this post better was an audio recording of you saying the names of the phobias.