Saxain

Middle Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish Saxain (“Saxons”), from Latin Saxō (“Saxon”). See the Latin term for further etymology.

Noun

Saxain m pl

1. inflection of Saxa:
   1. accusative/dative singular
   2. nominative plural

Proper noun

Saxain m pl

1. England (a medieval kingdom in Northern Europe)

Derived terms

• Saxanach

Descendants

• Irish: Sacsain, Sasana
• Manx: Sostyn
• Scottish Gaelic: Sasainn

Mutation

Mutation of Saxain

radical	lenition	nasalization
Saxain	Ṡaxain	unchanged

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in Middle Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Old Irish

Etymology

From Latin Saxō (“Saxon”).

Proper noun

Saxain m pl (genitive Saxan)

1. Anglo-Saxons

Inflection

Masculine o-stem

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	—	—	SaxainL
vocative	—	—	SaxanuH
accusative	—	—	SaxanuH
genitive	—	—	SaxanN
dative	—	—	Saxanaib

Initial mutations of a following adjective:

• ^H = triggers aspiration
• ^L = triggers lenition
• ^N = triggers nasalization

Descendants

• Middle Irish: Saxain
  • Irish: Sacsain, Sasana
  • Manx: Sostyn
  • Scottish Gaelic: Sasainn

Mutation

Mutation of Saxain

radical	lenition	nasalization
Saxain	Ṡaxain	unchanged

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in Old Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “Saxain”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language