| Group | Germanic (with Old English, Old Norse, Gothic etc.), West Germanic (with Old High German etc.) |
| Geography | Northern Germany (Saxony), Low Lands |
| History | In the first centuries of the new era Saxon tribes inhabited Northern
Germany and south of the jutland peninsula. The demographic explosion in
the 3-4th centuries forced some of them to seek better lands to settle
- and in the 5th century the waves of Saxons together with other North
Germanic tribes invade Britain, giving birth to the Old English language.
Saxony was a pagan country, and millions of people were killed here during the christianisation inthe 9th century by Charles the Great. After that, the influence of more developed south caused the decline of the Old Saxon language, which from the13th century is called Low German or Low Saxon. |
| Phonetics | Its main difference from the Old High German language is the absence of the '2nd consonant shift' which took place in High German. This means that voiceless stops remained as they were (tunga, makón, bók vs. Old High German zunga, mahhón, buoch). The nasal consonants were dropped lengthening the preceding vowel (óthar, fíf vs. Old High German andar, finf). |
| Nominal Morphology | The morphology of Old Saxon looks much like Old English. Among West Germanic languages, Old Saxon seems rather progressive - it did not make a distinction between genders in nominative singular. The personal pronouns lost their -r at the end (a rather strange feature); the 3rd person of those pronouns acquired a form he (perhaps, from Old Norse) |
| Verbal Morphology | All persons of the verb in the plural had the same ending in the Present and Past tenses; this was a distinguishing feature of Old Saxon. |
| Lexicon | After Saxons fell under the influence of Germany, a great lot of words were acquired from the Old High German dialects (including Frankish). The original vocabulary is very close to Old English and Old Frisian. |
| Writing | Latin alphabet |
| Close Contacts | Old English, Old Frisian, Old High German; Old Saxon influenced Swedish and Danish tongues very much. |
| Sample | fadar ûsa firiho barno,
thu bist an them hôhon himila, rîkea geuuîhid sî thîn namo uuordo gehuuilico cuma thîn craftag rîki uuerþa thîn uuilleo obar thesa uuerold alla sô sama an erþo sô thar uppa ist an them hôhon himilo rîkea gef ûs dago gehuuilikes râd drohtin the gôdo thîna hêlaga helpa endi alât ûs hebenes uuard managoro mênsculdio al sô uue ôþrum mannum dôan ne lât ûs farlêdean lêþa uuihti sô forþ an iro uuilleon sô uui uuirþige sind ac help ûs uuiþar allun ubilon dâdiun. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. (Heliand 840) |
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