Spanish Oddities
Who put the 'X' in Miercoles?
By m.p. - Nov 16, 2009 - 2:24 PM
email this article
Portrait of Alfonso X in the Alcázar of Segovia - Wikipedia
One theory for the symbol used for Wednesday on calendars in Spain is the influence of Alfonso X, the king who was known as The Wise
A blogger on the 20 minutos website has posed the question as to why it is practice in Spain to abbreviate ‘Miercoles’ – ‘Wednesday’ on calendars with the letter ‘X’. It’s obviously to avoid any confusion with ‘Martes’ – ‘Tuesday’, which appears abbreviated with its initial letter of M, but there are a number of theories on the origins of its usage.
One, is the influence of Alfonxo X, Alfonso the Wise, the king who ruled in the 13th century and promoted the use of the Castilian language, introducing standard spellings and abbreviations used in translated documents.
Another theory comes from a possible connection between Ash Wednesday and ‘xpi’, the letters which appeared in documents written in Latin as an abbreviation of the Greek word for Christ.
Yet a third hypothesis is because the word for Wednesday in Romance languages is derived from the name of the Roman god Mercury, Mercurius in Latin. He was not only the messenger of the gods, but also the god of trade, profit and commerce. The god’s name is said to have come from the Latin word for merchandise, ‘merx’, and hence the X for miercoles.