WEEK, a period of seven days, one of the common divisions of time. The week is an arbitrary division of time and the question i when why and by whom it was first adopted necessarily arises in connection with its actual prevalence. One explanation is that the num ber seven occurs so conspicuously in mythical and occult lore. It was also early used as an indefinite unit, and things were counted by sevens, where later they were enumerated by dozens or hundreds. Another natural explana tion offered is that it has been adopted as a quarter lunation; but as there is no absolute necessity for dividing the month into four, and a large fraction is needed to make the weekly square with the lunar periods, this explanation is not satisfactory. The week is, in fact, a much closer division of a year than of a month; has the division of the year into 52 portions is so purely arbitrary that this can hardly suggest the origin of the week. The convenience of some short recurring period or cycle of days is obvious, and it is the prevalence alone, and not the occurrence of aparticular cycle, that has to be accounted for. The practice of antiquity on the subject does not seem to have been so uni form as is sometimes supposed. Among the nations who adopted the week as a division of taw, the Chinese, Hindus, Egyptians, (laid: was. Jews, Persians and Peruvians have been mentioned, hut in some cases the antiquity of the practice is doubtful, and in others the name has been applied to other cycles than that of seven days. The nations with whom the weekly cycle has been traced with certainty to the antiquity are the Egyptians and the With the former we. only know of is existence, but with the Wenn had • much more important character. Their earliest rec ords speak of its existence, and refer it to a period previous to that of the nation itself. 1.aban, the uncle of Jacob. alludes to the week as an established measure of time in Gen. xxix,
27. The origin of the week is further ascribed in the Jewish Scriptures to the creation of the world, and is wrought into the institutions of the nation in a variety of ways, but particularly by the consecration of the seventh day to the worship of the Creator. The Hebrew word for week is of a general signification, and applies equally to a period of seven days, seven months, and seven years, each of which had a particular celebration attached to it in the Hebrew ritual, hence the use of days to represent years in the prophetic writings is according to the natural gemus of the language. The number seven had a mystic significance attached to it in the sym bolism of the Jewish religion in a variety of other ways. The Romans and Greeks each di vided the month into three periods (see CAL L:40mi), and were not acquainted with the week till a late perio wever, had for civil uses, as the 4 1:atiLaiL:11. of market days, a cycle of civilt davc. the nity't day being the recurring 03 ith, as with us. The use of the week was introduced into the Roman Empire about the first or second century of the Christian era from Egypt, and had been recognised independently of Chris tianity before the Emperor Constantine con firmed it by enjoining the observance of the Christian Sabbath. The names given by the Romans to the days of the week, and which have pervaded Europe, were derived from the planetary system, which was supposed to con sist of the sun, moon and five planets, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn. With the Mohammedans the week has also a religious character, Friday being observed by them as a Sabbath. The Chinese week is said to consist of five days, named after the five elements, iron, wood, water, feathers and earth. See articles on the different days of the week.