Samstag

See also: samstag

German

Etymology

From Middle High German sameȥtac, samȥtac, from Old High German sambaȥtag (“Sabbath day”), from Gothic *𐍃𐌰𐌼𐌱𐌰𐍄𐍉 (*sambatō), an alteration (possibly dialectal) of earlier, Biblical 𐍃𐌰𐌱𐌱𐌰𐍄𐍉 (sabbatō). The altered Gothic form derives from Koine Greek σάββατον (sábbaton, “Sabbath”). Compare French samedi, Old French sambedi, Romansh somda, Romanian sâmbătă, Hungarian szombat, Old Church Slavonic сѫбота (sǫbota). (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈzamstaːk/ (standard)

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /ˈzamstax/ (northern Germany and parts of central Germany; chiefly colloquial)
• IPA^(key): /ˈzamstaːx/ (parts of central Germany; chiefly colloquial)
• IPA^(key): /ˈsamstak/, [sɑmsd̥ɑɡ̥] (Southern Germany, Austria, Bavaria)

Noun

Samstag m (strong, genitive Samstages or Samstags, plural Samstage)

1. (now dominant except in former East Germany) Saturday

Usage notes

Samstag is a common word for “Saturday” in western Germany, southern Germany, Austria, and Switzerland (in standard usage). See Sonnabend for information on this synonym.

Declension

Declension of Samstag [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Samstag	die	Samstage
genitive	eines	des	Samstages, Samstags	der	Samstage
dative	einem	dem	Samstag, Samstage1	den	Samstagen
accusative	einen	den	Samstag	die	Samstage

¹Now rare, see notes.

Synonyms

• (eastern and, traditionally, northern Germany): Sonnabend

Hypernyms

• Tag

Derived terms

• samstags
• Karsamstag

See also

• Sabbat
• Sabbattag
• Schabbat

• days of the week: Tage der Woche (appendix): Montag · Dienstag · Mittwoch · Donnerstag · Freitag · Samstag/Sonnabend · Sonntag ^[edit]

Days of the week in German · Wochentage (layout · text)
Montag	Dienstag	Mittwoch	Donnerstag	Freitag	Samstag, Sonnabend	Sonntag

Further reading

• “Samstag” in Duden online
• “Samstag”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[1] (in German)