Linguistics. The Origin of the Name Saxons . 11 January 2026, 22 Tevet 5786
Thesis
The origin of the name Saxonshas long intrigued historians. Emerging from obscurity in the second century CE, the people went by the Old English (OE) name, Seaxe or Seaxan. This name hasa discordant, non-Germanic ring about it, for it contains the combination of sounds — /ks/ — which was foreign to the native Germanic word formation. Yet the name, Seaxe, contains two salient linguistic clues pertaining to the ancestry of the Saxons.
The first clue found is the root Saxwhich appears consistently in the name for Saxons in most medieval languages. The second clue lies in the various inflectional endings, which reflect their language of origin. One inflectional ending led to the natural combination of /k/ and /s/ in colloquial speech, resulting in a new pronunciation of the original name. Gothic is only the medieval language that meets this condition. The root word must have ended with a final /k/ before the suffix /s/ was attached and Gothic offers Kreks ‘a Greek’ as the closest possible paradigm. By extending this singular suffix paradigm to a Saxon, we find *Saks, consisting of the original root Sak and the Gothic suffix -s.
The evolution of Old English vocabulary divulges numerous cases where the sounds /k/ and /s/ fused together under certain phonological conditions. The sounds /k/ and /s/ in a word led to their fusion into a consonant cluster, and as such, it is observed in the OE variants acas, aecs ‘ax, axe’ and eolhes, eolces, eolcs, eolx (genitive of eolh ‘elk’). The circumstances that fostered this kind of phonological fusion were comparable to those that gave rise to Gothic *Saks.
The closest possible antecedent of *Saks is Greek Sakaiand Latin Sacae, based on the root Sak. These names identified a distinct ethnic group who inhibited the region of Scythia for an extended period of time. When the root Sak was suffixed according to Gothic conventions (*Sak + s), it resulted in a new pronunciation. Given that Saxons were a prominent Germanic people in medieval Europe, it is likely that the Gothic pronunciation emerged as a new appellation for Saxons in other languages.
Historical and linguistic evidence provides the context in which the name *Sakscould have passed from the Sakai to their descendants known as the Saxons. This paper explores the material culture and the medieval texts that trace Saxons to their common ethnic stock, Goths, as well to Scythia, their original homeland.
Introduction
Rapin de Thoyras, the 18th century historian, summarizes the long-debated but commonly held view regarding the origin of the Saxons in his book, History of England:
“The true etymology of the Name Saxons is as difficult to be discovered as their Origin. They that derive them from the Sacae of Asia, are indeed at no great loss in this Point. But the most Opinion is, that the word Saxon comes from Seax, which in their Language signifies a kind of Weapon or Sword. They had two sorts, a long one worn by their side or at their back; and another shorter, serving for a Bayonet or Dagger.” [1].
Historical manuscripts like this one perpetuate misinterpretations of the name Saxons.Over time, these misunderstandings led to conjectures which persist to this day. So, before an investigation can begin, it is necessary to examine the various claims and distinguish the factual evidence from mere speculation. This undertaking is critical in order to establish a reliable foundation regarding the true roots of the name Saxons.
The Claim that the meaning of Saxon is related to seax
As de Thoyras indicated, a seax ‘a knife, short sword, or dagger’ is traditionally attributed as the origin of the name Saxon. However, archaeological findings cast serious doubt on the unique association of seax with Saxons. For instance, one historian observes that all the swords found in bogs in northern Europe are of Roman origin, and that only lances and spears are of Germanic craftsmanship [2]. Many museum exhibits substantiate that the Saxons were not the only ones who brandished the seax. Franks, Vikings, and other Germanic tribes also used seax throughout the medieval era. In light of these observations, attributing the origin of the name Saxon to a weapon with a similar-sounding name is an oversimplification. It is even more difficult to imagine a scenario in which an entire tribe would choose to name itself after a weapon. Given this improbability, it is reasonable to conclude that the similarity between the terms Saxon and seax is merely a lexical coincidence.
The Claim that Saxoi is found in the ancient texts
Many articles quote the statement, “There was a people called Saxoi, on the Euxine, according to Stephanus.” This claim traces to Sharon Turner who penned it in The History of the Anglo-Saxons [3]. Apparently, he relied upon an old publication of Stephanus’ Greek work Ethnica whichcarries the ethnonym Σάξοι Saxoi [4]. However,latter publications of Ethnica show a different spelling: Σάζοι Sazoi. A notation beside this word reads “a nation near Pontus” [5]. As Ethnica is a geographical dictionary, this entry is listed in alphabetical order. Σάξοι (Saxoi) is obviously a textual corruption. In ancient and medieval manuscripts, it was not unusual for scribal or transcription errors to occur.
The Claim that Saxon comes from Sak + son
The term Saxon is sometimes believed to be a contraction of Sak + son. However, there is no convincing linguistic evidence to support this theory. This supposition can be traced back to the nineteenth century or possibly earlier. For example, Turner maintains, “Sakai-Suna, or the sons of the Sakai, is abbreviated into Saksun, which is the same sound as Saxon, seems a reasonable etymology of the word Saxon” [6]. Here he introduces Sakai-Suna, of which no instance has been found in the ancient records. He further claims:
That some of the divisions of the divisions of this people were really called Saka-suna, is obvious from Pliny; for he says, that the Sakai, who settled in Armenia, were named Sacassani, which is but Saki-suna, spelt by a person unacquainted with the meaning of the combined words. And the name Sacasena, which they gave to the part of Armenia they occupied, is nearly the same sound as Saxonia [7].
A certain degree of conflation occurs in this passage, as Saki-suna is narratively associated with Sacasena and Sacassani. The latter two names are corroborated in the historical accounts by Strabo (64/63 BCE– 24 CE) and Pliny the Elder (23-79 CE). However, it is necessary to examine these referents more closely. A careful reading of their sources will help determine whether Turner’s claim that Saki-suna represents sons of the Saki holds validity.
Regarding Sacasena, it must be pointed out that Strabo also records several other place-names with the identical ending -sene in his work Geography e.g. Aresene, Messene, and Sanisene. In particular is what Strabo writes about Sacasena: “They [Sacae] occupied Bactriana, and got possession of the most fertile tract in Armenia, which was called after their own name, Sacasene (Σακασηνῇ)” [8]. In this context, Sacasene is plainly a place-name. Bailey, a well-respected scholar on Khotanese, states, “In Armenia Saka tribes settled, and their name is preserved in Šaka-šen and Šika-šen” [9]. He explains that the ending -šen comes ‘from Avesta šayanna-, Armenian šen ‘inhabited place,’ restricted in meaning in Georgian šeni-i ‘settlement,’ šeneba ‘build” [10]. In this light, Sacasene is a demonym,having no relation whatsoever with ‘suna’ or ‘son’ [11].
Pliny refers to the Sacassani as a people in his description of Armenia: “…and there is the country of the Moschi, extending to the river Iberus, which flows into the Cyrus; below them are the Sacassani, and after them the Macrones, upon the river Absarus…” [12]. Sacassani is a hapax legomenon, not found anywhere else, but this name forms from Sacas and the Latin demonymic suffix -ani,which denotes ‘people of, inhabitants of, or tribe of,’ e.g. Compsani, Mentesani, Tarvisani, Syracusani, Albani, Dardani, and Germani [13]. Based on this Latin usage, Sacassani only means ‘people, or inhabitants, or tribe of Sacasene.’ Given that Strabo and Pliny lived only one generation apart, in all likelihood, they refer to the same people who still lived in the same geographical area.
Looking at the Medieval-Era Cognates
A comparison of the name Saxons in medieval European languages provides us with a helpful understanding of how the cognates for Saxons were divided by root and suffixes according to their language conventions. Latin Saxōnēs is plural in the third declension, whereas the singular counterpart is Saxo. It belongs to the same class of Latin noun declension as, e.g. leo ‘lion’ and leones ‘lions,’ homo ‘man’ and hominis ‘men,’ and virgo‘virgin’ and virginis ‘virgins.’ It is useful to bear in mind that Saxon comes from a Latin construction, having entered the English language only in the thirteenth century, and it is therefore not native to Old English.
Old Norse (ON) Saxar and Old High German (OHG) Sahsun (/hs/pronounced as/ks/) further corroborate the root Sax. In ON, Saxar features the plural suffix -ar, while Sahsun contains the OHG plural ending -un. In the Celtic languages, a Saxon was called Sais in Old Welsh, Sasanach in Old Irish, and Sasannach in Scottish Gaelic [14]. These Celtic cognates reflect a pattern in which foreign loanwords bearing the consonant cluster /ks/ underwent simplified pronunciation. The /k/ sound within the cluster was elided, leaving only the sibilant /s/. Thurneysen states that in Old Irish /ss/ was pronounced in place of /ks/ and later, it was simplified to a single /s/ [15]. Some authorities claim that the Celtic names for Saxons derive from Latin Saxones. However, this paper submits that the names resulted from direct interactions with Saxons who identified themselves by the name root *Saks.
In Old English texts, the term for "Saxons" was Seaxe or Seaxan as earlier noted. No instance of the singular form of Seaxe exists in OE, though the genitive case can be found in the topographical names dating to the pre-Conquest era. According to researchers Baker and Carroll, the genitive form of the ethnonym Seaxe is Seax(e)na and that of the personal name Seaxa is Seaxan[16].Their study abounds of many genitive instances such as Seaxena-feld ‘open land of the Saxons,’ Seaxan-feld ‘open land of a man named Seaxa,’and Seaxana meare ‘boundary of the Saxons’ [17].
The Phonological Conditions
The interesting etymology of Brussels illustrates how the Germanic languages responded to the foreign sound combination of /ks/. The origin of the name Brussels is said to be the Old Dutch words Bruocsella, Broekzele, or Broeksel. These names reflect a compound formation, meaning 'settlement in the marsh’ (bruoc/broek denotes ‘marsh' and sella/zele/sel 'home, settlement’).Their syllable boundary e.g., Broek.sel contracted to /ks/ over time, obscuring their beginnings as a compound name. The historical spelling and pronunciation of Brussels provides a helpful analogy that explains how /ks/ originally formed in Germanic as a non-native cluster, though it is no longer pronounced in both the Dutch and French names [18]. Today, Belgian road signs display the names Brussel in Dutch and Bruxelles in French.
Historical phonological conditions explain how the consonant cluster /ks/ occurred in the Germanic languages, notwithstanding that this cluster was never an innate part of Germanic vocabulary creation. Four different phonological changes that led to the subsequent acceptance of the cluster
/ks/ in Old English speech are identified in this paper. Due to space constraints, they are illustrated only by several examples which should suffice to make the case that the etymon of "Saxons" could have acquired its two-consonant cluster as a result of haphazard phonological conditions.
1) Proximity
The origin of next is the suffixation of OE neah‘most nearly, in closest proximity’ to the OE superlative -st. Hence neah + st > niehsta > ME nexte > next. One of the numerous OE variants is nyxt. In the case of niehsta, the consonant cluster /hs/ is pronounced as /ks/ as the result of sound proximity. Compare ON næstr, Dutch naast "next," and OHG nahisto “neighbour,” which show the absence of the sound proximity of /h/ and
/s/.
2) Loss of an Intervening Vowel
A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary lists axe as well as æcs 'axe,' pickaxe, hatchet,’ while Bosworth records the Northumbrian dialect variant acas, acase.Compare Gothic aqizi, Old Saxon (OS) accus, ON ex, and Old Frisian (OFris) axe.Even the runes preserve akse [19]. The OE, ON, and OFris spellings suggest that their formation is due to the loss of an intervening vowel, which ultimately led to pronouncing /c/ and /s/ together as a consonant cluster. Gothic aqiziis an earliest form that dates to the 4th century which preserves a vowel between /q/ and /z/ — an indication that an intervening vowel was later lost, leading to the consonant cluster /ks/ insubsequent Germanic cognates.
3) Metathesis
Metathesis is a transposition of of sounds or letters in a word. The variant of ask in Britain is ax (aks). The Online Etymological Dictionary states, “Modern dialectal ax is as old as Old English acsian and was an accepted literary variant until c. 1600.” The OE form is ascian ‘to 'ask,' of which the variants are acsian, ahsian,and axian.Middle English axien is not uncommon. Compare OS escon, OFris askia, and OHG eiscon. These Germanic cognates give the impression that OE was more tolerant towards the adaption of /ks/.
4) Compounding
OE eolhsecg ‘papyrus,' reed, sedge’ is a compound of eolh‘elk’ and secg‘sedge, reed, rush,’ which literally means ‘elk-grass.’ Compare eolhxsecg and eolxsegc and note that /h/ is elided in the latter. Incidentally, the genitive form of eolh is eolhes, eolces, eolcs, the latter showing the unmistakable loss of an intervening vowel.
Additionally, Ybarra reports that assibilation (e.g. /sc/ > /ʃ/ as in fish) is an important factor that accounts for why some words underwent metathesis and other words did not [20]. For instance, the
non-metathesized and metathesized forms of ‘fish’ once existed alongside, such as fiscas, fixas; fisca, fixa; and fiscum, fixum [21]. On one hand, they reflect assibilation(/sc/ > /ʃ/ e.g. fiscas) and on the other hand, metathesis (/sc/ > /ks/ e.g. fixas). Once the words reached the stage of assibilation, the metathesis of /sk/ would be no longer possible. Importantly, Vbarra states that “high frequency forms tend to lead change, we should expect that this metathetic change from /sk/ to /ks/, clearly under way in Late Old English and therefore in the vast majority of our data, would be led by the higher frequency words which exhibit the metathesis with any consistency…” [22]. The phenomenon of metathesis manifests the apparent incidental nature of phonological changes in the Old English pronunciation. It appears that almost all occurrences of /ks/ in fact resulted from such pronunciation changes (the exceptions being the loanwords borrowed from Greek or Latin).
Moreover, the paucity of /ks/ in OE words suggests that its existence is rather incidental than a core part of the original OE phonotactics — the rules that govern which sound combinations are allowed in a language. Though Seaxe is a legitimate native Old English word, it was also a product of the subsequent sound change. This term does not accurately mirror the original form of Sak-, and begs the question of where the name originated.
Hypothesis on the Origin of the Name Seaxe
As indicated earlier, no verified singular form of Seaxe is known to exist. Dictionaries list only its plural forms, though the singular genitive form may be inferred by examining the established paradigms of attested noun declensions. Seax(e)na and Seaxan are two examples as mentioned earlier. This paper proposes that *Sax (*Saks)was the early OE singular form. There are several compelling reasons why this form existed during the pre-historical era of the Anglo-Saxons.
First, it is suggested that *Sax originates from the Gothic language. It would appear as *Saksin the same paradigm Kreks ‘a Greek’ typified in the masculine a-stem [23]. As the Saxons began to come into prominence in medieval Europe, their name *Saks ‘a Saxon’is what the Romans heard [24]. The Latin terms Saxō and Saxōnēs indicate that their root comes from *Saks.
Second, all other medieval European appellations for Saxons, as previously cited, preserved the medial vowel /a/, whereas the OE term is Seaxe. In many OE words, the medial vowel /a/ shifted to
/ea/ due to breaking, a phonological process in Old English. This sound change is evidenced in a comparison with the cognates in Gothic, the earliest attested Germanic language:
Gothic Old English
ahtau ‘eight’ eahta
alls ‘all, every, whole’ eall
barn ‘child’ bearn
gards house, household’ geard ‘yard, court, residence’
halba ‘half, part’ healf
This pattern of change was peculiar only to Old English. It would affect *Sax, the theoretical singular form of Seaxe. The medieval European cognates substantiate that the original medial vowel was /a/ before breaking occurred. For instance, OS Saxnot, worshiped as a Germanic god in northern Germany and Britain,was known asSeaxnēat in OE[25]. The OE spelling variations Saxnat, Saxnēat, and Seaxnet might have resulted from dialect differences, however, it is suggested that they exhibit the phenomenon of OE breaking in transition. As the practice of breaking largely ceased by the 11th century, Seaxe would be a later-stage development.
Third, the singular forms of Dene, Engle, or Seaxe are not found in OE, though these names do appear in the plural form. A minor declension is associated with the names of peoples and tribes in OE. These names are examples of collective nouns that follow minor declension rules. Hogg conjectures why the expected genitive singular forms do not occur for such collective nouns:
Even if it is true that we have seen other words where the same happens, for example in word, such a situation in a language for which the singular ~ plural contrast is important is clearly undesirable. Especially when, as here, there was an easy remedy, namely to shift a word such as wine [‘friend’] to a different declension. Evidence that this is exactly what happened comes precisely from the nouns which were only plural: they did not shift declension, for they did not have a singular ~ plural contrast[emphasis added] [26].
This explanation is plausible; however, an alternative is presented in this paper. The proposed singular form of Seaxe is *Seax(*Seaks after breaking < *Saks (i.e. *Sax)). In many Anglo-Saxon dithematic personal names, Seax- is the first element. It acts as the root word to which the second element is attached, evoking family ties or concepts of nobility, wealth, strength, or friendship. The following list show examples of Anglo-Saxon personal names in a dithematic form:
Saexred Saexreding son of Saexred Sexbald Seaxbeald
Seaxbeorht Seaxburh Seaxa Seaxing
Saexburg, Seaxburg, Sexburg
Saxuulf, Saexuulf, Seaxwulf, Sexuulf (Bishop Seaxulf)
In these personal names, the first element shows the absence of the genitive plural suffix -e or any other suffix (except in Seaxa). Therefore, *Seax (and its variations) is, for all intents and purposes, the uninflected form.
Compare single-element personal names: Saxo, Seaxa, Seaxo, and Saxi, Sexi [27]. In Anglo-Saxon masculine names, the native OE ending -a was frequent, which was often rendered as -o in Latin texts. Saxo and Seaxo are such examples. Seaxa and Seaxo reflect the change because of breaking, despite their different OE and Latin endings. Saxi is an ON personal name, from which breaking renders Sexi. Baker and Carroll state that these personal names “presumably arose as bynames bestowed on individuals considered ethically Saxon [28].
A study of the OE place-names reveal that the presence or absence of the genitive suffix -e is a helpful clue to the sense and significance of place-names. It especially aids in distinguishing a personal name from an ethnonym. For example, we find Saxsteda ‘place of Seaxa’ and Saxtun ‘farm or estate of Seax- ‘Saxon,’’ which refer to individuals of Saxon descent [29]. These place-names follow the practice of Anglo-Saxon personal names by using the root word *Saks as the first element without a suffix. Only then is the second element added to represent a topographical feature.
On the other hand, the first element of place-names with the suffix -e derives from the ethnonym Seaxe ‘Saxons.’Examples are Saxedale ‘valley of the Saxons,’ Saxeden ‘valley of the Saxons,’ and Saxebi ‘settlement of the Saxons’ [30]. Though the place-names are not always transparent in meaning due to the historical changes of their original appellation, the surviving forms, regardless of whether they were personal names or ethnonyms, sufficiently indicate that the early uninflected form is *Saks.
Although there is no written record of the singular form of Seaxe, the root word *Saks is perhaps a clue hidden in plain sight. Adding further complexity to this notion is the OE sound change of breaking which obscures the original medial vowel /a/ in *Saks. A dearth of medieval texts leaves linguists unable to explore the lineage of Seaxe to its earlier forms with any degree of confidence. For lack of a better explanation, the origin of Seaxe is often attributed to seaxe, a type of knife.
The Gothic language does not have a word like *Saks in its attested or reconstructed vocabulary. As well, there is no recorded Gothic term for Saxons in the surviving corpus. Yet, the paradigm of Kreks ‘Greek’ strongly indicates that *Saks is the etymon of Seaxe and other Germanic cognates. Reversing the OE breaking and dropping the suffixes would lead us precisely to this reconstructed form.
The Gothic Bible, dating to approximately the fourth century, relatively reflects the Common Germanic language spoken by the Anglo-Saxons at that time and pre-dates the earliest Old English texts by three centuries. Gothic and OE eventually represented two different branches of the Germanic language, each with its own distinct grammatical and morphological features [31]. Conceivably, *Saks was a part of the fourth-century Germanic vernacular spoken by Goths, Anglo-Saxons, and other Germanic tribes before this root word mutated to Seaxe in OE.
The Evidence of Material Culture
Since *Saks is the theoretical lexical successor of Greek Sakaiand Latin Sacae which represent the base Sak without suffixation, it is necessary to examine the geographical and historical contexts of medieval Europe in order to establish a credible link between the Saxons and their historical counterparts, Goths and Sakai who inhabited the European steppes. Some of the material culture from Scythia was present throughout Europe because of migration. In particular, it suggests that the Goths were closely associated with the Scythians, specifically with those who wore the pointed cap.
Goths inhabited the areas north of the Black Sea where Sakai had dwelt before the Hunnic invasion pushed them into the Roman Empire. They brought with them some material of a local provenance into Europe. For example, the display at the Normandy Museum in Caen, France, features an image of a woman’s adornments which reads, “the finery of a lady of rank… shows influences of the Franks mixed with those of Danubian peoples who had come from the Crimea, the starting point of the migrations of the Goths and Huns.” Musset, the author of The Germanic Invasions, writes, “The Goths became semi-nomadic horsemen, took to wearing coats of mail and, in the case of kings at least, Iranian costume, to such an extent that the Greco-Roman authors frequently confused them with the Scythians, or took Alans to be a branch of the Goths" [32].
During the first few centuries CE, Romans frequently warred with the Dacians, Goths, and Parthians. In commemoration of their victories, the Romans built triumphal arches with carvings that often depicted their opponents in similar pointed caps (with tips facing forward) and wearing trousers). Other period monuments corroborate these costume details, reflecting both noble (tall cap) and commoner (short cap) styles.
The earliest European attestation of the pointed cap appears to be the Tolland man, a mummified body discovered in a Danish peat bog in 1950. His body was well-preserved with a leather noose still around his neck. He wore a pointed cap of sheepskin and wool, which resembles the Scythian pointed cap (the tip facing upward or backward) [33]. According to radiocarbon dating, the body dates to approximately 405–380 BCE. This suggests that travel from eastern Europe occurred before the first century CE based on the premise that the pointed cap worn by the Tolland man was of a Scythian origin.
Built in 1140, the Kilpeck Church is located in an isolated rural part of Herefordshire, England, close to the Welsh border. This Norman church preserves elaborate corbels on its doorposts. Carved in remarkable detail on one of the door posts are two warriors wearing loose trousers and pointed caps (tipping forward), indicating that the pointed cap was worn in the medieval England. There is no known explanation as to why such carvings appear on the doorpost.
The Old English Hexateuch, a late Anglo-Saxon manuscript, contains many illustrations of Anglo-Saxon life, including warriors wearing the pointed cap. Other manuscripts, such as the late 10th or 11th century Prudentius MS, also depict persons wearing the pointed cap in their extensive illustrations.
The pointed cap apparently fell out of custom in Britain not long after the 1066 Conquest, but the evidence that the pointed cap was worn in the Anglo-Saxon era is noteworthy. It strongly suggests that Anglo-Saxons who migrated to Britain had arrived from Gothic territory several centuries earlier. Though the evolution of dress throughout the centuries is difficult to document due to the highly perishable nature of fabric, this headwear poses the interesting implication of its unbroken continuation from Goths and Scythians. While other evidence of an apparent Scythian origin no doubt exists within European history, the material and historical context presented here is sufficient to connect the Sakai and Scythia to the Goths and the Anglo-Saxons, and to Europe.
The Evidence in Historical Texts
Old English historical records indicate that the Anglo-Saxons were of Scythian origin. History of the Britons relates how Hengest and Horsa sent for more warriors on the pretence of helping to fight for Vortigern, king of Britons. It states, “Vortigern assenting to this proposal, messengers were despatched to Scythia, where selecting a number of warlike troops, they returned with sixteen vessels…” [34]. Historians correctly pin down Scythia to the Jutland region, then inhabited by the Angles, Jutes, and Saxons, whereas the author of the History of the Britons used the broad historical term for the region that overlapped both eastern Europe and Scythia. Jason notes the Scandinavian connection to the name Scythia in medieval literature and states, “Scythia referred to a vast cultural sphere beyond the horizon of the Frankish and the Byzantine Empires, in which at least the eastern parts of Scandinavia could be included” [35]. Not be left unmentioned is the fact that during the Migratory Period there was a profound transformation of the European population due to a substantial influx of individuals who had previously resided in Scythia. This led to dramatic demographic shifts across Europe.
Alfred the Great (c. 849-899) encouraged the writing of English literature in his kingdom and he commissioned the translation of Latin literary works into English. The Late Roman historian, Paulus Orosius, authored the Seven Books of History Against the Pagans, a compilation of the history of the world from creation through to the period in which the author lived. The OE translation turns out to be more of a paraphrase: excerpts were rephrased and reduced. One translated passage contains an unusual reference to Scythia which reads, “That district they call Old Scythia, and Hyrcania” [36]. However, this statement is nowhere to be found in Orosius’ original work. Bosworth remarks that “Alfred has so much abridged this description, and included so large a space, in a few words” [37]. Whereas Orosius places Scythia in the vicinity of Caucasian Mountains, the Old English rendition poses an implicit comment by the translator, whose intention appears to identify the ancient location of Scythia for the benefit of the readers. Apparently, the people during Alfred’s time were aware of a different Scythiain a different geographical location which possibly included Scandinavia. The geography of Scythia apparently shifted with its inhabitants as they migrated into Europe.
Asser, the biographer of Alfred the King, leaves an intriguing snippet of Alfred’s descent. He says,
“The mother of Alfred was named Osburga, a religious woman, noble both by birth and by nature; she was daughter of Oslac, the famous butler of king Ethtelwulf, which Oslac was a Goth by nation, descended from the Goths and Jutes…” [38]. This reference to Oslac’s Gothic descent suggests that the term Goth, at that time, was a collective appellation for the Germanic people, of which Jutes were but one tribe. Goths called themselves Gut-thiuda “people of Gut” which seems more of an ethnic group name than a tribal name. In any event, if Asser’s account of Alfred’s ancestry is factual, it discloses a little-known connection to the Goths two generations before Alfred’s time.
Implications
In light of both the material culture and the historical texts, the Goths and Anglo-Saxons displayed a significant cultural and social intertwinement with the peoples of Scythia than previously understood. The significance of the pointed cap remains inadequately understood, but the pointed cap is an obvious cultural marker of these ethnic groups. The existence of this headwear in 11th-century England is compelling. The historical reference to Old Scythia betrays a literary familiarity of the past — suggesting an historical consciousness of the ancestral grounds in Scythia. Additionally, Scythia was apparently then a medieval term for the vast, sprawling land in the east of Europe and beyond since the word Asia did not enter the English language until in the 1300s [39]. The evidence, presented by material culture and by history, supports a viable context in which the ethnic name Sakai could have transmitted as *Sak to the Goths and Anglo-Saxons through their cross-cultural connections.
Secondary Considerations
In medieval-era tombstone inscriptions, there exists a record of the personal name Sacco[40]. According to the 19th century publication, the name is Celtic in origin, perhaps an outdated attribution. Sometimes personal names originate from ethnonyms, so Sacco could well allude to Saxons. Its suffix -o suggests a Latin transliteration of *Sak, and implies an older dating because it appears to precede the stage when *Sak acquired the cluster /ks/ due to the Gothic suffixation -s. In the Latin usage of *Sak, the doubling of medial /k/ followed the Germanic convention of gemination. However, it was not possible in the Gothic usage of *Saks because the conditions required for gemination did not apply to consonant clusters. In comparison, OFris Saxa ‘Saxon’ is an attested proper name [41] and is a later development. It theoretically reflects the earlier Gothic suffixation, which culminated in the consonant cluster /ks/ in pronunciation (*Sak + s before OFris suffix -a). Since Old Frisian is recognized as the Germanic language most closely related to OE, this word lends credence to *Sakas the early uninflected etymon of Saxons.
Latin Saxxonio is reported in an early 20th century journal on epigraphs with the following comment, “The nickname Saxxonius probably comes from the deceased's homeland: Saxony, now Holstein” [42]. The spelling of this name is peculiar for it violates the Germanic and Latin conventions of gemination (consonant clusters were not doubled in Latin). This odd letter combination seems to reflect the headstone engraver’s unfamiliarity or uncertainty that both the geminated (/kk/) and consonant blended /ks/ forms of the root Sak were circulating in the early medieval era during the time of transition. Medieval tombstone inscriptions serve as time capsules that could throw helpful light on the missing crucial gap between the root Sak and *Saks in the Germanic cognates, particularly for this etymological gap where written records are so sparse.
The Gothic Bible bucks the majority of the New Testament translations of Colossians 3:11, “…there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman…” This passage strings together a series of antithesis pairs, except in the case of barbarian and Scythian: the conjunction “and” does not appear between these two terms. Many exegetical explanations attempt to account for this literary oddity, but they are generally unconvincing. The Gothic Bible reads “barbarus jah Skwthus” [43].It includes the conjunction jah, meaning ‘and' that is not found in the original Greek text. Given that the Greek and Latin classical writers refer to Goths as Scythians [44], it begs the question: by contrasting Scythians with barbarians, did the Gothic rendition better suit the Gothic translators’ worldview?
Conclusion
This paper submits that *Saks‘a Saxon’ is the early-stage origin of OE Seaxe and its other Germanic cognates. This thesis is based on an analogical inference: just as Kreks serves as the singular form in Gothic, so could *Saks function as the singular antecedent for later forms. Eliminating all the suffixes in medieval Greek, Latin, and Germanic ethnonyms for Saxons, Sak- irrefutably remains the original root [45]. It is indistinguishable from that of Greek Sakai and Latin Sacae. Behind the curtain of changing suffixes in the medieval European tongues, the conspicuous form of Sak- disappears, and then reappears as Sax-that is, Saks-. The evolution of suffixes may obscure its initial structure, but the root Sak remains intact within each new linguistic context.
Given that the Saxons made their presence profoundly felt throughout medieval Europe, it is understandable how the colloquial designation of Sax- would naturally arise to refer to this prominent people. The chaotic Migratory Period afforded the circumstances which can account for how Gothic *Saks could have preserved the ancient root, originating in Scythia, and become the source word root in the medieval European languages. All things considered, *Saks poses the most compelling etymological argument for the origin of the word Saxons.
Endnotes
[1] Thoyras, Rapin de (Paul de Rapin). The History of England, Vol. I, second edition.Translated by Nicholes Tindal. London: James, John and Paul Knapton, 1732, 27.
[2] Springer, M. The Continental Saxons from the Migration Period to the Tenth Century, edited by Green, Dennis and Frank Siegmund. Woodbridge: Boydell, 2003, 33.
[3]Turner, Sharon. The History of the Anglo-Saxons, from the earliest period to the Norman conquest. London: Longman, 1852, 88.
[4] In the 1678 version of Stephanus De urbibus, the Latin translation of Stephanus’ Greek entry reads “SAXI, gens prope Pontum” (SAXI, a nation near Pontus). Link: https://archive.org/details/stephanosperipol00step/page/580/mode/2up.
[5] Billerbeck, Margarethe and Arlette Neumann-Hartmann. Stephani Byzanth Ethnica. Volume 4 of Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2016, 132-33.
[6] Turner, THOTAS, 87.
[7] Ibid., 88.
[8] Strabo. Geography, 11.8.4.
[9] Bailey, H.W. Khotanese Texts, Volume VII. Cambridge: Cambridge, 1985, 66.
[10] Ibid., 66. Footnote 157 sheds light on the pronunciation of initial š, “Maricq who thought the initial š- was due to the non-Iranian foreign pronunciation of the name Saka.”
[11] Although OE sunu ‘son, descendant’ resembles Sanskrit sūnu ‘son, offspring,’ it is completely absent in the form of OE Seaxe.
[12] Pliny the Elder. Natural History, Book 6.11 (29).
[13] The Latin demonyms are drawn from the works of Pliny, Strabo, and other writers.
[14] The Celtic suffix -ach carries the sense of a ‘person or thing connected or involved with, belonging to.’ Where a name ends with a final vowel, a nasal consonant is inserted at the beginning of the Celtic suffix -ach e.g. Éire ‘Ireland’ + -ach > Éireannach ‘Irish person.’
[15] Thurneysen, Rudolf. A Grammar of Old Irish. Dublin:Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies,1946, 96, 138, cf. 136.
[16] Baker, John and Jayne Carroll. “The Afterlives of Bede’s Tribal Names in English Place-Names.” In The Land of the English Kin: Studies of Wessex and Anglo-Saxon England in Honour of Barbara Yorke, edited by L. Alexander James and L. Ryan. Leiden: Brill, 2020, 121, cf. 123.
[17] Ibid., 128-29.
[18] The first recorded reference to the place was Brosella, then a hamlet in 695 CE. This spelling suggests that the substitution of /ks/ had already occurred with the dropping of /k/. According to Wikipedia, the pronunciation of /ks/ in French only dates from the 18th century. Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brussels.
[19] Refer to the list of Germanic nouns provided by the Kiel Rune Project under the auspices of the Christian-Albrechts University at Kiel. Online: http://www.runenprojekt.uni-kiel.de/abfragen/default_eng.htm.
[20] Ybarra, Catharina C.“A Study of sk- Metathesis in Old English.” Master’s thesis, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, 2020, 9.
[21] Ibid., 29.
[22] Ibid., 41-42.
[23] Kreks appears in Galatians 2:3, Galatians 3:28, and Colossians 3:11 in the Gothic Bible.
[24] The Laterculus Veronensis(circa 314 CE) and Eutropius (circa 369 CE) provide the earliest attestations of the name Saxones.
[25] Simek, Rudolf. Dictionary of Northern Mythology. Translated by Angela Hall. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1993, 276.
[26] Hogg, Richard. An Introduction to Old English. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University, 2002, 32.
[27]. The source for the OE personal names cited on page 6 is the Onomasticon Anglo-Saxonicum. Searle, William. Onomasticon Anglo-Saxonicum. Cambridge: University Press, 1897, 409, 412.
[28] Baker and Carroll. “TAOBTN,” 123, cf. 121.
[29] Ibid., 130-31.
[30] Ibid., 125-26, 133.
[31] Gothic was of the Eastern Germanic branch, while Old English belonged to the West Germanic branch.
[32] Musset, Lucien. The Germanic Invasions. Translated by Edward James, et al. New York: Barnes and Noble, 1965, 36.
[33] On Greek vases from the sixth century BCE and later, Scythians are customarily depicted wearing trousers, a patterned tunic, and a pointed cap often facing backward (or sometimes upward). The Dacians, Goths, and Parthians wore the pointed cap facing in an opposite direction. This indicates that at some point in history, the style of wearing the pointed cap inexplicably changed. The Indo-Saka sculpture confirms this inference. A Buner relief and other sculptures show the figures wearing the pointed cap with the tip facing forward. Historians recognize that Indo-Sakas were a people of a Scythian origin who migrated from Central Asia from the middle of the second century BCE to the fourth century CE. Refer to the article on Indo-Scythians by Wikipedia. Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Scythian_Kingdom.
[34] Nennius. History of Britons, 37.
[35] Janson, Henrik. “Scythian Christianity” in Early Christianity on the Way from the Varangians to the Greeks, edited by Garipzanov, Ildar and Oleksiy Tolochko. Kyiv: Instytut istoriï Ukraïny, 2011, 49.
[36] Bosworth, Joseph. The Whole Works of King Alfred the Great. Vol. 2. Oxford: The Alfred Committee, 1852, 34.
[37] Ibid., 34, cf. 15.
[38] Asser. The Life of King Alfred, 2.
[39] Online Etymology Dictionary. Refer to the entry for Asia. Link: https://www.etymonline.com/word/Asia.
[40] Werle, George. “Die ältesten germanischen Personennamen.” Zeitschrift für deutsche Wortforschung. Vol. 12. Strassburg: Karl J. Trübner, 1910, 52.
[41a] Boutkan, Dirk and Sjoerd Michiel Siebinga. “Old Frisian Etymological Dictionary.”In Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series, edited by Lubotsky, Alexander.Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2005, 327.
[41b] The form Saxais attested in ON as well. Refer to Baker and Carroll on page 122. The form is unattested in OE.
[42a] Cagnat, Rene. L’Année Epigraphique.Volume Janvier-Mars, 1901, 3. Link: https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Revue_des_publications_%C3%A9pigraphiques/pvclAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=saxxonius&pg=RA7-PA3&printsec=frontcover.
[42b] The same gravestone is mentioned by Mees in his book. He states, "Saxons are also recorded in Roman inscriptions as far afield as Solin in Croatia where a third-century gravestone commemorating an ‘Alogius, also known as Saxxonius’ has survived.”
Mees, Bernard. King Arthur and the Languages of Britain: Examining the Linguistic Evidence. London: Bloomsbury, 2025, 43. Link: https://books.google.ca/books?id=EQUxEQAAQBAJ&pg=PA37&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=2#v=onepage&q&f=false.
[43] Refer to Colossians 3:11 in the Gothic Bible. Link: https://www.wulfila.be/gothic/browse/text/11/03.html.
[44a] Ammianus. Res gestae 31.5.15; Procopius. History of the Wars8:5.5-6, 18, 23-24; Zosimus. Historia Nova 4.10.1-2. These works reflect a common practice among Late Antique writers who used Scythians as a broad, sometimes interchangeable, term for Goths and other peoples north of the Roman frontier.
[44b] The Scythica Vindobonensia, the fragments digitally recovered from a reused medieval parchment, probably records the earliest instance of this practice. These fragments refer to the Gothic invasion of 250-51 CE and calls Goths Scythians. Most likely, they originate from the lost work of Scythica by Dexippus (c. 210-273).
Martin, Gunther and Jana Grusková. “Scythica Vindobonensia by Dexippus(?): New Fragments on Decius’ Gothic Wars.” Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 54, 2014, 736-37, 742.
[45] The elimination of all the suffixes includes Gothic -s, confirming the root Sak without /s/.