Samedi

Samedi is the French word for Saturday, the day of the week that marks the end of the work week in many Francophone contexts. In modern calendars that follow the ISO-8601 standard, the week starts on Monday, making samedi the sixth day of the week; in traditions that begin on Sunday, it is the seventh day. The term is used in everyday speech to refer to a particular Saturday or to describe recurring events that happen on Saturdays, such as “tous les samedis” (every Saturday) or “ce samedi” (this Saturday).

Etymology and cognates: Samedi derives from Latin dies Saturni, meaning “Saturn’s day.” The Latin name passed into Old French and evolved into the modern French term. This etymological pattern is common across Romance languages, yielding Spanish sábado, Italian sabato, and Portuguese sábado, all of which share the same root referring to Saturn, the Roman god associated with the day.

usage notes: In French, samedi is used with definite articles and demonstratives as a standard day name (le samedi, ce samedi, samedi prochain). It appears in dates and scheduling phrases, for example le samedi 12 mai or samedi prochain. Abbreviations in writing typically render it as sam. or sam.

See also: The English word Saturday, though derived through a different linguistic path, shares the same Saturnian origin. In other languages and cultures, the corresponding weekday names reflect the same celestial association but with distinct historical developments.