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I am a beginner Italian learner.

I have learned "sette" (seven) and "settimana" (week) but the only word I have learned for day (so far) is "giorno". Does "mana" in "settimana" have something to do with a word for day in italian or does it mean something different or is it just a coincidence that there is a setti in settimana?

DaG
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mathreadler
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    Just to clarify something already contained in the answers, -mana in itself doesn't actually “mean” something. It is just (the feminine form of) a suffix or, better, a kind of double suffix: septem (seven) > septimus (seventh) > septimanus (involving the seventh of something, especially days and legions). – DaG Jan 17 '17 at 16:15

2 Answers2

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You are looking for the etymology of settimana, from Latin "septimus" used to indicate the space of seven days:

  • From Late Latin septimāna ‎(“week”), from the Latin septimānus ‎(“related to the seventh element of a series”, adjective), derived from septimus ‎(“seventh”).

(Wiktionary)

So "mana" is the suffix coming from -mus - manus and later -māna

Community
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It's not a coincidence, but mana means nothing in Italian. It comes from the Latin word septimanus, that means sevenfold.

neclepsio
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