Q 01/05

Tuesday is named for Tiw, the Norse Tyr, who lost what to the monstrous wolf Fenrir?

A) His hand

B) His eye

C) His sword

D) His ship

Answer · why

A) His hand

His hand. Tyr placed it in Fenrir's jaws as a pledge of good faith while the gods bound the wolf, and Fenrir bit it off when he realised he had been t...

Q 02/05

Which horse race, run on the first Tuesday of November, is known as 'the race that stops a nation'?

A) Kentucky Derby

B) Grand National

C) Melbourne Cup

D) Dubai World Cup

Answer · why

C) Melbourne Cup

Melbourne Cup. Run at Flemington since 1861, it draws such a following that race day has been a public holiday in Melbourne since the 1870s.

Q 03/05

Dienstag, German for Tuesday, is linked to the 'thing', which was what in Germanic societies?

A) A market

B) An assembly

C) A harvest feast

D) A hunt

Answer · why

B) An assembly

An assembly. Free people met at the thing to settle disputes and make law, and Roman-era inscriptions honouring a war god titled Thingsus, 'of the thi...

Q 04/05

In Japanese, Tuesday is kayōbi, named after which planet?

A) Venus

B) Jupiter

C) Saturn

D) Mars

Answer · why

D) Mars

Mars. Japan took its weekday names from Chinese astrology about a thousand years ago: the planet is the 'fire star', so kayōbi is literally 'fire day'...

Q 05/05

In Greek the name for Tuesday, Triti, literally means what?

A) The third

B) The fire day

C) The war day

D) The second

Answer · why

A) The third

The third. Greek counts Tuesday as the third day of a week that opens on Sunday, the Lord's Day; only Friday and Saturday break the numbering, named f...