Saxon

The term Saxon has several meanings. It is an adjective which is also used as a noun.

• The most literal meaning is 'belonging to', or 'a native of', Saxony. Nowadays Saxony is a state in Germany - the Free State of Saxony. Like many modern regions, the modern state, which is in the south east of Germany, has occupied different boundaries in the past.
• At the time of the Anglo-Saxon settlement of England (and thus the beginnings of the English language), Saxony was an area at the corner of Denmark and Germany, bounded by the North Sea (which was once called the 'German Ocean').
• From the time at latest of Walter Scott's fiction, Saxon has been used by Celts, or those pretending to be Celts, to mean 'English' as opposed to Celtic (Irish, Scots or Welsh). This is a reflection of a Celtic word. The English spelling is Sassenach; the Gaelic spelling is Sasunnach, the Irish Sasanach or Sacsanach - themselves derived from 'Saxon'. The corresponding Welsh form is Seisnig.)
• Saxon was used from at least 1388 as the name of the language later known as Anglo-Saxon. (The preferred name now is Old English.) It is this meaning that may be of most interest to users of AWE.

Many other meanings of Saxon may be found at [[1]]