The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1898-10-15
Are We "Anglo-Saxonss"

ATt we hnRiO-odAOuSs
From the Mississippi Valley Democrat.
Many words are used by people who
do not know what the said words mean,
though they think they do. "Anglo-
Saxon is one of them. Tho word is
made up of the names of two tribes of
North Europe, Angles and Saxons.
Putting them together means that these
two tribes united and made another
tribe which is supposed to have grown |
into nation, the English, and that the
people of the United States are an OFF, |
shoot from them. Who first introduced |
this vicious error into history do not |
know, but / challenge any scholar TO
prove that there ever was a union of
Angles and Saxons anywhere in the
world TO the exclusion of others of the
kindred northern tribes. AS no one
else had ever given a satisfactory origin
of the name Angli. and as some great
German scholars had suggested the
puerile idea that it was from German
word meaning fish-hook / made a
special study of it and have satisfied
myself that it is made up as follows:
eng, meaning a meadow, prairie, the
steps, plains; and secondly the Old
Morse or Icelandic word ala, meaning
what we do by the word raise" in
speaking of live stock. Eng-ali or Angli
meant pasture feeders, shepherds or
herdsmen, as the Germans say, step
pen-bewohner, dwelers on the stepps
(of Russia). The word Saxon is not as
easy to trace. Great German scholars
say 1t is from the sax, a one edged
sword of the ancient inhabitants of
Northern Europe. The cases in which
whole tribes have been named from a
weapon art so few that it is highly inn
probable that this IS the true derivation
of the name. III the latter syllables of
the word are correctly given--as in the
ancient form, "SaxOnes'-then it is
certain that the first syllable is not from
sax, a sword. For the syllables ones,
occnring in many names of northern
"barbarians" as given by Roman writ
ers, is a corruption of Dutch women, or
Icelandic buandi, meaning to live OF
dwell. Thus in the Roman writers we
have mention of the IngRvones, a
northern tribe. This is only another
name of the meadow dwelers, Engwo-
mend, or Eng-buandi, or Augi. Sax
anes would mean "SwOrd-dwellers,n
which does not make sense. suspect
that the word Sax is the Latin word
saxum, a rock, hence a mountain, and
Saxones meant rock. dwellers or noun
taineers. There is here. however, u
difficulty in explaining why the word is
compounded OF Latin word and a
Germanic word. This, if il was done,
would show that the word was made up
at time when the Romans and Ger
mans were well mingled and writers
were familiar with both languages.
This would bring the date of the origin
of the word far down to the present sra,
say about the fifth century, after the
Ffankish invasions, as we must look to
the scholars IN the m0nasteries for the
originators of the word.
\ y =
1t may be that the name is a corrup-
ton of SaXania, which would permit US
to look to the Roman writer's for its
origin, and TO allow that it dates from
Il. G. But SaXania, or 1.-THE country
OF rocks" would only mean the noun
tain country of Germany. Thuringia
is the most mountainous. and all the
names of the divisions of Germany that
houn NaXQ la fhaua m i'm ar fIhnt
ingia. (The present Sayony is not tie
home OF ancient "Sax0ns.nl Sake
Altenburg, SAKE Meiningen, SAKE Wei.
mar, Saxe-Coburg Gotha are, from
their names, probably some of the
ancient Saxon territory. That the
Angles went to England from Denmark
: Is pretty well established. Does any
one hold that the English are made W
of those Angles and tribe Of SaxollS
from these above named "Saxen coun'
triesp THEY are written Sachsen
Meiningen, etc. in Germany In German
there is an expression "men Of Berl
and Mark, which Is believed to NEAR
or used to mean. men of mountain and
plain, 1t is possible that the wort
"Anglo-SaXOnn is an equivalent o.
that. That the pastoral Aryans of th,
steppes Of Russia and the plains OF nortl
Germany did not herd their stock in thu
mountains is well known. But jus
what race was in the mountains ut iirs
and who drove them out and took thei
places Is not vet entirely cleared M
But a study of the antiquities In tn
case proves that the application Of tn
name "Anglo Saxon To the Englisl
and Americans exclusively is incorreC
and absurd. A late writer in an Eng
ish magazine CONES near provln
that the English now in England ar
descended from the Roman armies am
> their hapgers'On or one thing ther
can be no doubt: the fashion Of mis-
placing the letter h, no longer n habl
Of educated Engishmen but once MOI
common there than now, Is an Italia
habit. You can hear it from almoI
any shopkeeper in Rome who speak
English. II Is frequent in the Portt
guese when they speak English. Bot
in Italy and in Portugal there rs larG