The Hebrew word for Sabbath is Shabbat. One of the proofs that the Sabbath is from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset is that many different languages call Saturday some version of Sabbath, sabado, saptu, etc… Let’s take a look at a short list:
Indonesian – Sabtu
Tagalog (Philippines) – Sabado
Latin – Sabbatum (ancient Latin also used Sabata)
Italian – Sabato
Spanish – Sabado
Portuguese – Sabado
Greek – Savatoh
Koine Greek – Sabbata and Sabbaton (koine Greek was spoken from about 300 BC to 300 AD)
Russian – Subota
Polish – Sobota
Arabic – Al Sabt
Somali (East Africa) – Sabti
Mandingo also called Mandinka (West Africa) – Sibiti
Ormo or Galla (East Africa) – Sanbata tenna
Kisii, also called Gusii or Ekegusii (Africa) – Esabato
In modern Greece, Friday is called paraskevi or Preparation day. It comes from the ancient Jewish and Christian custom of preparing on Friday to keep the Sabbath. One reason why this happened is because the Sabbath begins Friday at sunset. In fact, this is when all Biblical days occur.
We can see that on different continents and different countries, one thing remains constant: the Sabbath is preserved by language.
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