Why is there

[oldlib]

an extra "D" in Wednesday? It is pronounced Wens-day, not Wed-nes-day. I thought that I would get a more interesting response on DU then on Google.

[MiddleFingerMom]

1. Without Googling, I seem to remember a connection to the Norse god -- Wodin's Day. n/t

[eyepaddle]

2. Yep. Wodin's Day. nt

[kentauros]

3. I guess it all depends on which language you're using ;)

Wednesday
O.E. Wodnesdæg "Woden's day," a Gmc. loan-translation of L. dies Mercurii "day of Mercury" (cf. O.N. Oðinsdagr, Swed. Onsdag, O.Fris. Wonsdei, M.Du. Wudensdach). For Woden, see Odin. Contracted pronunciation is recorded from 15c. The Odin-based name is missing in German (mittwoch, from O.H.G. mittwocha, lit. "mid-week"), probably by influence of Gothic, which seems to have adopted a pure ecclesiastical (i.e. non-astrological) week from Greek missionaries. The Gothic model also seems to be the source of Pol. sroda, Rus. sreda "Wednesday," lit. "middle."

[Phentex]

4. Why is "day" even in there?...

Here in the south, we say wenz-dee.