fifth day of the week, Old English þurresdæg, a contraction (perhaps influenced by Old Norse þorsdagr) of þunresdæg, literally "Thor's day," from Þunre, genitive of Þunor "Thor" (see thunder (n.)); from Proto-Germanic *thonaras daga (source also of Old Frisian thunresdei, Middle Dutch donresdach, Dutch donderdag, Old High German Donares tag, German Donnerstag, Danish and Swedish Torsdag "Thursday"), a loan-translation of Latin Jovis dies "day of Jupiter."

Roman Jupiter was identified with the Germanic Thor. The Latin word is the source of Italian giovedi, Old French juesdi, French jeudi, Spanish jueves, and is itself a loan-translation of Greek dios hēmera "the day of Zeus."