tysdag

Tysdag is a historical or dialectal term related to the weekday Tuesday in some North Germanic language varieties. The form derives from the old god Tyr (Týr) and reflects the common Germanic practice of naming days after deities. In Old Norse, the day was called Týsdagr, literally meaning “Týr’s day.”

In modern standard forms, the same etymology appears with different spellings in related languages. Danish uses tirsdag, Swedish uses tisdag, and Norwegian typically employs tirsdag in many dialects. These contemporary forms retain the Tyr association, even as spelling and pronunciation have standardised over time. The spelling tysdag without the modern diacritical or standardised form is encountered mainly in historical texts, regional dialect writings, or discussions of linguistic evolution.

Cultural and linguistic significance centers on the Norse and Germanic naming tradition for weekdays, where Tuesday is linked to Tyr, a deity associated with law, order, and war. The narrative of Tyr, including the myth of him sacrificing his hand to the wolf Fenrir, underpins the mythological rationale for the day’s name in the historical record. Today, tysdag is primarily of interest to scholars studying etymology, old manuscripts, and the development of Scandinavian languages, rather than a term in common contemporary usage.

See also: Tyr (Týr), Tuesday, Tiw, Tirsdag, tisdag, Týsdagr.