Afternoon

The afternoon is the time of day between noon and evening.

In ancient times, the afternoon marked the third quarter of a light day; in the division of the day into twelve sections of the temporal hours and four days afternoon covered the period from noon until the end of the ninth hour of the day. The Middle Ages took over the ancient division of the day in the Christian prayer times: the afternoon prayer was non. The ancient division of the day lost its importance after have enforced the steady hours in everyday life in the late Middle Ages.

The now usual high German compound " Afternoon " was rare in the 15th century; in the earlier stages of development of the German language predominated apart letters (eg " according to mittemtag "). In contrast to the evening it will be in the German dialects a number of other names for the afternoon time, often derived from the snack: snack, snack, coffee or tea time or the Tyrolean Marende are examples. There are also lands in the German language, who hardly know the afternoon and instead extend the lunch into the evening, or vice versa leave at noon like the evening to follow.

In most European languages ​​, there is a " afternoon " in the same etymological formation as in German: engl. afternoon, French après -midi, although few languages ​​as a counterpart have a morning. In some European languages ​​following the afternoon right of the evening, while for example in the Japanese still own time of day called yugata (Japanese夕 方) is inserted.

In English there with " Good afternoon! " Own greeting for the afternoon, while the neutral form, " Good day! " Has become uncommon. The Spanish greeting " Buenas tardes " in turn, can be used from the late afternoon until well into the evening as the Italian "Buona sera (ta) ".

The afternoon is a motif in literature, art and music, from L' Après -midi d'un faune ( "The Afternoon of a Faun " ) Mallarmé ( set to music by Debussy, the ballet by Nijinsky ) to the Death in the Afternoon Hemingway. 1957 was Billy Wilder film that have become redensartlich Ariane - Love in the Afternoon.