Saxon people

The Saxon people or Saxons were a large Germanic people located in what is now northwestern Germany and a small section of the eastern Netherlands. It is important to note that the historic Saxons did not inhabit the modern German federal state called Saxony. They are first mentioned by the geographer Ptolemy as a people of southern Jutland and present-day Schleswig-Holstein, hence they appear subsequently to have expanded to the south and west. The word 'Saxon' is believed to be derived from the word seax, meaning a variety of single-edged knife. The Saxons were considered by Charlemagne and other historians to be especially war-like and ferocious.

Modern remnants of the Saxon name

Since reunification in 1990, three federal states of Germany derive their name from the Saxons: Niedersachsen, or Lower Saxony, whose area corresponds roughly to the traditional Saxon lands between the Netherlands and the Elbe River; Sachsen-Anhalt, or Saxony-Anhalt, located around the city of Magdeburg; and the Free State of Sachsen, or Saxony, which includes the city of Dresden.

Related Topics:
Reunification - 1990 - Federal states of Germany - Lower Saxony - Elbe - Saxony-Anhalt - Magdeburg - Saxony - Dresden

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In the Finnish and Estonian languages the words that historically applied to ancient Saxons have changed their meaning over the centuries to denote the whole country of Germany (Saksa in both) and the Germans (saksalaiset and sakslased, respectively) now. In some Celtic languages the word for the English nationality is derived from Saxon, e.g. the Scottish term Sassenach, and the Welsh term Sais.

Related Topics:
Finnish - Estonian - Celtic languages - Sassenach

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German-speaking minority of Romania are called Saxons also.

Related Topics:
Romania - Saxons

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