Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Saturday |
SaturdayNoun1. The seventh and last day of the week; the Jewish Sabbath. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "Saturday" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1350. (references) |
Etymology: Saturday \Sat"ur*day\, noun. [from Old English expression Saterday, Anglo-Saxon S[ae]terd[ae]g, S[ae]ternd[ae]g, S[ae]ternesd[ae]g, literally, Saturn's day, from the Latin expression Saturnus Saturn Anglo-Saxon d[ae]g day; compare to Latin dies Saturni.]. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Literature | Saturday (See Black Saturday .). Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Saturday is the day of the week between Friday and Sunday. Its name is unique among the names of days, in that it is derived from the Roman god Saturn, while the other six names are derived from Saxon gods.
By tradition derived from ancient Jews, Saturday is the last day of the week. That convention remains universally standard in the United States, but in modern Europe many people now consider Saturday the sixth (penultimate) day of the week, and Sunday the last. The modern European convention has been formalized by ISO 8601.
In ancient Jewish tradition Saturday is the sabbath. Many languages lack separate words for "Saturday" and "sabbath". Eastern Orthodox churches distinguish between the sabbath (Saturday) and the Lord's day (Sunday). Roman Catholics put so little emphasis on that distinction that many among them follow -- at least in colloquial language -- the Protestant practice of calling Sunday the sabbath.
See also:
- Sunday
- Monday
- Tuesday
- Wednesday
- Thursday
- Friday
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Saturday."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Shabbat, or Shabbos, is a day of rest that is observed once a week, on Saturday, by practitioners of Judaism, as well as by many secular Jews.
Etymology
The Hebrew word Shabbat is best translated as "period of rest," and is the basis of the English words "sabbath" and "sabbatical." (A common linguistic confusion leads many to believe that the word means "seventh day." Though the root for seven, or sheva`, is similar in sound, it is spelled differently. Sephardi Jews will also pronounce the word differently, add a pharyngial fricative at the end of sheva`.)
Shabbat in other religions
A form of Shabbat is also observed in Christianity as the Sabbath. Islam has a day of rest of Friday that is based on Shabbat.
Definition
Observance of Shabbat is in accord with the Ten Commandments, a part of the Torah (five books of Moses).
Jewish law defines one day ending at nightfall, which is when the next day then begins. Thus, Shabbat begins at sundown Friday night and ends at nightfall Saturday night. The added time between sunset and nightfall on Saturday night owes to the ambiguous nature of that part of the day according to Jewish law.
Status as a holiday
While the Sabbath is not considered a holiday by many other cultures and religions, Judaism accords Shabbat the status of a joyous holiday. In many ways, halakha (Jewish law) gives Shabbat the status of being the most imporant holy day in the Jewish calendar.
- It is the first holiday mentioned in the Bible, and God was the first one to observe it.
- The liturgy treats the Sabbath as a bride and queen.
- The Torah reading for the Sabbath has more aliyot (sections of the Torah sung aloud) than does Yom Kippor, which in turn contains the most of any regular Jewish holiday.
- There is a tradition that the Messiah will come if every Jew observes the Shabbat twice in a row.
- The Biblical penalty for violating Shabbat is greater than that for violating any other holiday.
Purpose
The Tanach (Hebrew Bible) and the Siddur (Jewish prayer book) describe Shabbat as having two purposes:
- A commemoration of the Israelites' redemption from slavery in Egypt;
- A commemoration of God's creations of the Universe; on the seventh day God rested from his work.
Prohibited activities
Jewish law prohibits Jewish people from doing any form of melachah ("work", plural "melachot") on Shabbat. Melacha does not closely correspond to the English definition of the term "work", nor does it correspond to the definition of the term as used in physics. Rather, it refers to the 39 categories of activity that the Talmud prohibits Jews from engaging in on Shabbat. Many religious scholars have pointed out that these labors have something in common -- they prohibit any activity that is creative, or that exercises control or dominion over one's environment.
The 39 activities are:
The 39 melachot are not so much activities as categories of activity. For example, while "winnowing" usually refers exclusively to the separation of chaff from grain, it refers in the Talmudic sense to any separation of intermixed materials which renders edible that which was inedible. Thus, filtering undrinkable water to make it drinkable falls under this category, as does picking small bones from fish. (Gefilte fish is a traditional Ashkenazi solution to this problem.)
- Sowing;
- Plowing;
- Reaping;
- Binding sheaves;
- Threshing;
- Winnowing;
- Selecting;
- Grinding;
- Sifting;
- Kneading;
- Baking;
- Shearing wool;
- Washing wool;
- Beating wool;
- Dyeing wool;
- Spinning;
- Weaving;
- Making two loops;
- Weaving two threads;
- Separating two threads;
- Tying;
- Untying;
- Sewing stitches;
- Tearing;
- Trapping;
- Slaughtering;
- Flaying;
- Salting meat;
- Curing hide;
- Scraping hide;
- Cutting hide up;
- Writing two or more letters;
- Erasing two or more letters;
- Building;
- Tearing something down;
- Extinguishing a fire;
- Kindling a fire;
- Hitting an object with a hammer;
- Taking an object from the private domain to the public, or transporting an object in the public domain.
In the event that a human life is in danger, a Jew is not only allowed, but required, to violate any Shabbat law which stands in the way of saving that life.
Observance
Shabbat is a day of celebration as well as one of prayer. Three festive meals are eaten each Shabbat: on Friday night, Saturday afternoon, and early Saturday evening before the conclusion of the Shabbat. All Jews are encouraged to attend services at a synagogue at least once during Shabbat.
With the exception of Yom Kippur, days of public fasting are postponed for a day if they coincide with Shabbat, and mourners sitting Shivah conduct themselves normally for the duration of the day.
Permitted activities
The following activities are encouraged on Shabbat:
The following activities are in accord with Jewish law and tradition but are not mandated:
- Visiting family and friends (within walking distance of home and synagogue);
- Spending Shabbat together with your own immediate family;
- Synagogue attendance;
- Hosting family and friends to sleep over for Shabbat;
- Having family and friends for Shabbat lunch and dinner;
- Singing folk songs, zmirot, etc. (commonly done after the Friday night and Saturday afternoon meals);
- Reading, studying and discussing Torah and commentary, Mishnah and Talmud, halakha and responsa and Midrash.
- According to Kabbalah (esoteric Jewish mysticism), lovemaking between husband and wife is encouraged.
See also: Jewish holidays, Judaism, Sabbath, Jewish services
- Spending time with one's pets;
- Playing board games such as checkers, chess, pente, go, mancala, backgammon, etc.;
- Reading midrash and modern Jewish fiction;
- Taking a nature walk or hike;
- Reading magazines or books on popular science (many rabbis consider the study of the universe to be the study of God's handiwork).
External links:
Recommended reading:
- Frequently Asked Questions about Shabbat
- Information on Shabbat from the Union of Orthodox Congregations
- Discussion of Shabbat Torah readings
- The Sabbath Abraham Joshua Heschel
- The Sabbath: A Guide to Its Understandings and Observance Dayan Isadore Grunfeld, Philipp Feldheim Inc.
- A Guide to Jewish Religious Practice Isaac Klein, Ktav, 1992
- The Artscroll Siddur Ed. Nosson Scherman, Mesorah Publications
- The Encyclopaedia Judaica, entry on "Shabbat", Keter Publishing House Ltd
- Siddur Sim Shalom for Shabbat and Festivals Ed. Leonard S. Cahan, The Rabbinical Assembly and the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism
- Siddur Sim Shalom Ed. Jules Harlow, The Rabbinical Assembly and the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Shabbat."
Synonym: SaturdaySynonym: Sat (n). (additional references) |
Crosswords: Saturday |
| English words defined with "Saturday": Armed Forces Day ♦ date ♦ fatal, fateful, film, flick ♦ Holy Saturday ♦ Lent, Lententide ♦ motion picture, movie, moving picture ♦ Paschal candle, pic, picture, picture show ♦ Sabbatarian, Sabbath, Sabbath-day's journey, Seventh day, Seventh-Day Adventism, Seventh-day Dunkers ♦ weekday, weeknight. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "Saturday": ADAM ♦ barfe Saturday ♦ Days set apart as Sabbaths, Demi-monde, Dynamite Saturday ♦ Husband's Boat ♦ John Roberts ♦ Leonine Verses ♦ Monday Pops ♦ Parc aux Cerfs, Pasch Eggs ♦ Rush-bearing Sunday ♦ Samedi, SHEX, SHINC, Survey reference week ♦ virtual Friday. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Saturday" is also a word in the following language with the English translation in parentheses. Pidgin English (Saturday). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | If you guys know so much about women, how come you're here at like the Gas 'n' Sip on a Saturday night completely alone drinking beers with no women anywhere (Say Anything; writing credit: Cameron Crowe.) When the police told you on Saturday that Layra Hunt was dead you seemed sincerly shocked (Laura; writing credit: Vera Caspary; Jay Dratler) Liverpool can be a lonely place on a Saturday night, and this is only Thursday morning (Yellow Submarine; writing credit: Al Brodax; Jack Mendelsohn) Aw touché, Inspector, I think someone has been watching way too many Saturday morning cartoons (Inspector Gadget; writing credit: Andy Heyward; Jean Chalopin) Well, um, actually a pretty nice little Saturday, we're going to go to Home Depot (Old School; writing credit: Court Crandall; Todd Phillips) | |
Lyrics | For Saturday (Saturday In The Park; performing artist: Chicago) Just seen a big ol' ass, it's Saturday (Saturday (Oooh! Oooh!); performing artist: Ludacris) It's a pretty good crowd for a Saturday, ("Piano Man"; performing artist: Billy Joel) Two cars at a light on a Saturday night in the back seat there was a gun (MY HOMETOWN; performing artist: Bruce Springsteen) Here we come again on a Saturday night (TRAVELIN' BAND; performing artist: Creedence Clearwater Revival) | |
Clever | You've reached middle age when the phone rings on Saturday night you pray it isn't for you. (references; author: unknown) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Saturday (2003) Another Saturday Night (1974) Uptown Saturday Night (1974) Saturday Night at the Movies (1974) | |
Song Titles | Saturday (Oooh Oooh!) (performing artist: Ludacris) Another Saturday Night (performing artist: Sam Cooke) COME SATURDAY MORNING (performing artist: Sandpipers ) Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting) (performing artist: The Who) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Periodicals |
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Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
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High Tech |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Vendor ads value by cleaning and packaging beans. The Crescent City Farmer's Market meets in New Orleans, LA every Saturday morning. Fresh fruits and vegetables, herbs, baked and canned goods and other wonderful things are available. . Credit: USDA. |  | Missisippi Association of Cooperatives members bring produce to the Crescent City Farmer's Market meets in New Orleans, LA every Saturday morning. Fresh fruits and vegetables, herbs, baked and canned goods and other wonderful things are available. . Credit: USDA. |
 | ROAR on Saturday tour, kicked off the Multi-Cultural Tourism Program to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month and National Indian Recognition Week. Program leaders of the Rediscover Our American Roots discuss the summit activities at the Bumble Bee Ranch. Credit: Unknown. |  | Lithograph by A. Hoffy, No. 41 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, after a sketch by C.C. Barton, U.S.N. It was "Designed and lithographed expressly for the Philada. Saturday Chronicle". Credit: NAVY. |
 | All that evening, and most of Saturday and Sunday, Mr. Holcombe sat on the floor, with his eye to the reflecting mirror and his note-book beside him. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Early Saturday the Mayflower will head for Swampscott. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Summer pastimes. Riding up to Hooper's Lake on the Saturday p.m. bus --. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Columbia System and Red Cross staff working on the drought program over Columbia System Saturday evening, Jan. 31, 1931. Station KLRA, Little Rock, Ark. Left to right: Dillon, assistant director, P.I. Midwestern Br. office; Vensonhaler, Mgr., of Station K. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Saturday half holiday, bound for Coney Island, U.S.A. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | New York, N.Y., Saturday matinee, Casino Theatre. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |  |
| "Berlin - saturday market" by Sandro Petri Commentary: "There's everything here." | "Saturday Night Jazz" by Lynn Cummings Commentary: "Retro microphone, dark ambient background." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Emma | Austen, Jane | Oh yes, Friday or Saturday next |
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | Joyce, James | Saturday will be a free day. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Business | The normal Saudi workweek is Saturday through Wednesday. (references) | |
Economic History | India | The FIPB is scheduled to meet weekly on Saturday morning to review investment proposals. (references) |
Israel | Israel strictly observes the Friday afternoon to Saturday afternoon Sabbath and special permits must be obtained from the government authorizing Sabbath employment. (references) | |
Netherlands | Also, the American business community in the Netherlands has given cautious approval to calls to split the average 38-hour working week over four instead of five days, and treat Saturday as a normal working day. (references) | |
Human Rights | South Africa | In November the National Director of Public Prosecutions reported that the Saturday and additional courts had reduced the backlog of cases by 12,000. A total of 13,705 completed cases was reported at year's end. (references) |
Seychelles | Police occasionally detained individuals on a Friday or Saturday in order to allow for a longer period of detention without charge, thereby avoiding compliance with the Constitution's 24-hour "charge or release" provision. (references) | |
Travel | Bahrain | Many banks work Saturday through Thursday. (references) |
Worker Rights | Gambia | Nationwide the workweek includes 4 8-hour workdays and 2 4-hour workdays (Friday and Saturday). (references) |
Yemen | The workweek for government employees is 35 hours: 7 hours per day from Saturday through Wednesday. (references) | |
Dominican Republic | In practice, a typical workweek is Monday through Friday plus a half day on Saturday, but longer hours are common. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Phrase(s) |
Cast of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" | This friend wondered if you're not doing anything, you know, Saturday night, if you would like to have dinner. At her place. |
Rush Limbaugh | Thousands of smokers are expected Saturday at one o'clock in the afternoon in New York at South Ferry where they'll begin a march on City Hall. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "Saturday" is generally used as a noun (proper) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Saturday" is used about 8,301 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (proper) | 100% | 8,301 | 1,166 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "Saturday": easter saturday ♦ holy saturday ♦ last saturday ♦ next saturday ♦ on saturday ♦ saturday night ♦ Saturday night special. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "Saturday": saturday-afternoon, saturday-morning, saturday-night, Saturday-night special, Saturday-sunday. | |
Ending with "Saturday": Monday-saturday. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "Saturday"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Afrikaans | Saterdag (Sabbath). (various references) | |
Albanian | shtunë, E Shtunë (sabbath). (various references) | |
Arabic | يوم السبت (sabbath), السبت. (various references) | |
Asturian | Sábadu. (various references) | |
Aymara | sawadu. (various references) | |
Basque | larunbata. (various references) | |
Bemba | pacibelushi. (various references) | |
Blackfoot | to'tohtáátoyiiksistsiko. (various references) | |
Breton | disadorn. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | Събота. (various references) | |
Catalan | dissabte (Sabbath). (various references) | |
Cebuano | Sabado. (various references) | |
Chamorro | Sábalu. (various references) | |
Chinese | 星期六 . (various references) | |
Cornish | dé-Sadorn. (various references) | |
Croatian | subota. (various references) | |
Czech | sobota. (various references) | |
Danish | lørdag (Sabbath). (various references) | |
Dutch | zaterdag (Sabbath). (various references) | |
Ecuadorian Quechua | sabadu. (various references) | |
Esperanto | sabato (Sabbath). (various references) | |
Estonian | laupäev. (various references) | |
Faeroese | leygardagur (Sabbath). (various references) | |
Farsi | روزشنبه . (various references) | |
Finnish | lauantai. (various references) | |
Flemish | zaterdag. (various references) | |
French | Samedi. (various references) | |
French Canadian | samedi. (various references) | |
Frisian | sneon. (various references) | |
Galician | sábado. (various references) | |
German | Samstag (Sabbath), Sonnabend (Sabbath). (various references) | |
Greek | Σάββατο. (various references) | |
Guarani | sábado. (various references) | |
Haitian Creole | samdi. (various references) | |
Hebrew | ֹום בת. (various references) | |
Hungarian | Szombat (sabbath). (various references) | |
Icelandic | laugardagur (Sabbath). (various references) | |
Indonesian | sabtu. (various references) | |
Inuktitut | Sivataaqtut. (various references) | |
Irish | sathairn, an Satharn. (various references) | |
Italian | Sabato (Sabbath). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 土曜日 , 土曜日 , 土曜 , サハラ砂漠 (sabbatical leave, safari, safari jacket, safari look, safari park, safari rally, Sahara desert, sahel, sapience, sapphire, savanna, savarin, suffix, supper, supper club, survival, survival foods, survival manual, survival wear). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | どようび, どよう (dog days, midsummer), サバト . (various references) | |
Kongo | Lumbu kia sabala. (various references) | |
Korean | 토요일. (various references) | |
Lombard | sabet (Sabbath). (various references) | |
Luganda | lwomukaaga, lwamukaaga. (various references) | |
Luxembourgish | samschden. (various references) | |
Macedonian | sabota. (various references) | |
Malagasy | asabotsy. (various references) | |
Malay | Sabtu. (various references) | |
Manx | Sarn (Saturn), Jesarn. (various references) | |
Maori | Haatarei. (various references) | |
Mohawk | Tsi yenaktohares. (various references) | |
Norwegian | lørdag (Sabbath). (various references) | |
Papago | Shahwai. (various references) | |
Papiamen | djasabra (Sabbath). (various references) | |
Pidgin English | saturday. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | aturdaysay.(various references) | |
Polish | sobota (Sabbath). (various references) | |
Portuguese | sábado (Sabbath). (various references) | |
Provencal | dissabte. (various references) | |
Quechua | sabadu. (various references) | |
Romanian | Sâmbãtã. (various references) | |
Romany | sàvatos. (various references) | |
Ruanda | Kwagatandatu. (various references) | |
Russian | суббота (sabbath). (various references) | |
Samoan | Aso Toonai. (various references) | |
Scottish | Sathairn, Di-sathairn, Là na Sàbaid (Sabbath), Di-sathurna (Sabbath), di-sathairne, disathairne, Di-dòmhnaich (pnm. Sunday). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | subotnji, subota (sabbath). (various references) | |
Shona | Chitanhatu (sixth). (various references) | |
Slovene | sobota. (various references) | |
Somali | sabti. (various references) | |
Sotho | moqebelo. (various references) | |
Spanish | sabado, Sábado (sabbath, sat). (various references) | |
Sranan | satra, sabadey. (various references) | |
Swahili | Jumamosi. (various references) | |
Swazi | úm-gcibélo. (various references) | |
Swedish | lördag (Sabbath). (various references) | |
Tagalog | sabado. (various references) | |
Tswana | matlhatso. (various references) | |
Turkish | Cumartesi (sat). (various references) | |
Turkmen | юembe. (various references) | |
Ukrainian | Субота. (various references) | |
Vietnamese | ngày thứ bảy. (various references) | |
Welsh | Saboth, Sabath (Sabbath), Dydd Sadwrn (Sabbath). (various references) | |
Wolof | gaawu. (various references) | |
Xhosa | umgqibelo. (various references) | |
Zulu | uMgqibelo (Sabbath). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | sabbata, sabbateus, sabbati, sabbatis, sabbato, sabbatorum, sabbatum. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Misspellings | |
"Saturday" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Samudra, Saturady, saturd, Saturdee, seturday, staurady. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| Words rhyming with "Saturday" (pronounced 'Sat"ur*day'): Alackaday, Alday, Friday, Holyday, Monday, Playday, Rudmasday, Thursday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Welladay, Whitmonday, Whittuesday, Workday, Working-day, Workyday. (additional references) |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-d-r-s-t-u-y" | |
-1 letter: daturas, daystar. | |
-2 letters: astray, datary, datura, sturdy, sudary. | |
-3 letters: adust, adyta, artsy, auras, darts, dauts, drats, drays, duras, durst, dusty, rayas, rusty, satay, satyr, saury, stray, study, sutra, tardy, trays, turds, yards, yauds, yurta, yurts. | |
-4 letters: arts, arty, aura, dart, data, daut, days, drat, dray, drys, dura, dust, duty, rads, rats, raya, rays, rust. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-a-d-r-s-t-u-y" | |
+5 letters: tetradynamous. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Images: Digital Art | 9. Quotations: Fiction 10. Quotations: Non-fiction 11. Quotations: Spoken 12. Usage Frequency | 13. Expressions 14. Expressions: Internet 15. Translations: Modern 16. Translations: Ancient | 17. Derivations 18. Rhymes 19. Anagrams 20. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
