Old Saxon

Old Saxon
Sahsisk, Sahsisc
Region	northwest Germany, northeast Netherlands
Era	developed into Middle Low German in the 12th century
Language family	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic Ingvaeonic? Old Saxon
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	osx
Linguist List	osx

Old Saxon, also known as Old Low German, is the earliest recorded form of Low German, documented from the 8th century until the 12th century, when it evolved into Middle Low German. It was spoken on the north-west coast of Germany and in the Netherlands by Saxon peoples. It is close enough to Old Anglo-Frisian (Old Frisian, Old English) that it partially participates in the Ingvaeonic nasal spirant law; it is also closely related to Old Low Franconian ("Old Dutch"). It was mutually intelligible with Old English.

Phonology

Old Saxon did not participate in the High German consonant shift, and thus preserves stop consonants p, t, k that have been shifted in Old High German to various fricatives and affricates. The Germanic diphthongs ai, au consistently develop into long vowels ē, ō, whereas in Old High German they appear either as ei, ou or ē, ō depending on the following consonant. Old Saxon, alone of the West Germanic languages, consistently preserves Germanic -j- after a consonant, e.g. hēliand "savior" (Old High German: heilant, Old English: hǣlend, Gothic: háiljands). Germanic umlaut, when it occurs with short a, is inconsistent, e.g. hebbean or habbian "to have" (Old English: habban). This feature was carried over into the descendant-language of Old Saxon, Middle Low German, where e.g. the adjective krank (sick/ill) had the comparative forms krenker and kranker. Apart from the E, however, the Umlaut is not marked in scripture.

Literature

Only a few texts survive, predominantly in baptismal vows the Saxons were required to perform at the behest of Charlemagne. The only literary text preserved is Heliand.

• Heliand
• Beda homily (Homilie Bedas)
• Credo (Abrenunciatio diaboli et credo) → same as Old Saxon baptismal vow.
• Genesis fragment (Altsächsische Genesis)
• Essener Heberegister
• Old Saxon Baptismal Vow (German: Sächsisches Taufgelöbnis)
• Penitentiary (Westfälische Beichte)
• Trierer Blutsegen ( de.)
• Spurihalz (Wiener pferdsegen)( de.)
• Wurmsegen (Wiener Wurmsegen) ( de).)
• Psalms commentary (Gernroder Psalmenkommentars)

Sample

A poetic version of the Lord's Prayer in the form traditional Germanic alliterative verse is given in Old Saxon below as it appears in the Heliand.

Lord's Prayer

Old Saxon The Heliand Paternoster

English translation

Fadar ûsa firiho barno, thu bist an them hôhon himila rîkea, geuuîhid sî thîn namo uuordo gehuuilico, Cuma thîn craftag rîki. UUerða thîn uuilleo oƀar thesa werold alla, sô sama an erðo, sô thâr uppa ist an them hôhon himilo rîkea. Gêf ûs dag gehuuilikes râd, drohtin the gôdo, thîna hêlaga helpa, endi âlât ûs, heƀenes uuard, managoro mênsculdio, al sô uue ôðrum mannum dôan. Ne lât ûs farlêdean lêða uuihti sô forð an iro uuileon, sô uui uuirðige sind, ac help ûs uuiðar allun uƀilon dâdiun.

Father of us, the sons of men, You are in the high heavenly kingdom, Blessed be Your name in every word, May Your mighty kingdom come. May Your will be done over all this world, Just the same on earth as it is up there in the high heavenly kingdom. Give us support each day, good Chieftain, Your holy help, and pardon us, Protector of Heaven, our many crimes, just as we do to other human beings. Do not let evil little creatures lead us off to do their will, as we deserve, but help us against all devil deeds.

References

• Galleé, Johan Hendrik (1910). Altsächsische Grammatik. Halle: Max Niemeyer.