Saxe

The story

1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*sahsą“dagger, knife”
2. Old Norse · derived fromSaxi
3. Middle English · inherited fromSaxe
4. Dutch · borrowed fromSas
5. German · borrowed fromSachs
6. German · derived fromSaxen
7. German · borrowed fromSachsen“Saxony”
8. Middle French · borrowed fromSaxe“Saxony”
9. Old English · derived fromSeaxe
10. Middle English · inherited fromSaxe“the Saxons”
11. English todaySaxe

Seemingly a combination of influences: Middle English Saxe (“the Saxons”) (from Old English Seaxe), Middle French Saxe (“Saxony”), and German Sachsen (“Saxony”) and Sachse (“a Saxon”) itself, rewritten with x (compare regional German Saxen). The form Saxẽ (i.e., Saxen) is found in some Early Modern sources. The surname is also partly from German Sachs, itself a variant of Sachse; a variant of Dutch Sas (literally “Saxon”), a cognate; and Middle English Saxe, a personal name from Old Norse Saxi, from sax (“one-edged sword”). All of these ultimately lead back to Proto-Germanic *sahsą (“dagger, knife”). Doublet of Sachs, Sax, Sas, and Sachse.

Words from the same roots