An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Freitag

by Friedrich Kluge

Freitag, masculine, ‘Friday,’ from the equivalent Middle High German vrîtac, Old High German frîatag, masculine, ‘dies Veneris’; corresponding to Dutch vrijdag, Anglo-Saxon frîgdœg, frîgedœg, English Friday, ‘dies Veneris,’ Old Icelandic Frjádagr (for which Föstadagr, ‘fast day,’ is used in Modern Icelandic); literally ‘Freia’s day’ (primitive Teutonic Frijjó), equivalent to Latin dies Veneris. Freia corresponds to Venus. Old Icelandic Frigg, like Old High German Frîa, is literally ‘lover, goddess of love’; akin to Sanscrit priyã, feminine, ‘spouse, beloved’ (Old Saxon frî, Anglo-Saxon freó, ‘wife’). See frei.