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What does Middas mean in Oblivion? Is it like Monday?

Also, when I was reading the newspaper of "Assassination" , I find a date of 3E 389-399. Can someone simplified the date for me. Like what does 3E mean and what does 389-399 means 10 years?

Middas is equivalent to Wednesday. 3E means the Third Era, 389/399 are years (for example 3E 399 is the Three hundred and ninety ninth year of the third era) hope that clears things up.

Look here and here for more info

Thx, I'm just reading books/newspaper I collected in game on uesp.net instead on my TV. Easy to search dictionary and NPC info when reading on the computer.

What I don't like about the date system in ES games is: who the hell decides when a new era starts? Like after the Oblivion crisis, when the Fourth Era starts. Who decided that?

It's the different dynasties... 1st Era was Reman emperors, 2nd Era was Potentates, 3rd era was Septims, and when Martin died, the Septim line ended, signaling a new era.

Ah...
Unfortunate. So I guess I will have to buy The Infernal City.

The Tamrielic calendar is exactly the same as the calendar you're used to. The names of the weekdays and months are different, is all. For reference, here they are translated into English:-

Weekdays (EnglishName = TamrielicName)

Mon = Morndas
Tue = Tirdas
Wed = Middas
Thu = Turdas
Fri = Fredas
Sat = Loredas
Sun = Sundas

Months (EnglishName,DaysInMonth = TamrielicName)

Jan,31 = Morning Star
Feb,28 = Sun's Dawn
Mar,31 = First Seed
Apr,30 = Rain's Hand
May,31 = Second Seed
Jun,30 = Mid-Year
Jul,31 = Sun's Height
Aug,31 = Last Seed
Sep,30 = Heartfire
Oct,31 = Frost Fall
Nov,30 = Sun's Dusk
Dec,31 = Evening Star

As you can see, the months have the same number of days as the normal English calendar. Presumably, Tamriel has NO leap years, so February (Sun's Dawn) will always have 28 days, never 29.

Even after over 7 years playing Morrowind then Oblivion, I'm STILL hopelessly confused by the Tamrielic calendar. I'm too busy concentrating on gameplay to think about it, so it never "sticks". I recently created a small mod for Oblivion which renames the Tamrielic weekdays/months to add the three-letter abbreviated English versions in brackets after them, e.g. Evening Star (Dec). It's made things much easier to understand!

Hope this helps.

Actually, I'm going to print the text out on paper to read instead, since monitors can damage your eye vision. The books are pretty interesting to read