Old Saxon

Old Saxon is the common name given to the earliest stage of historical development of those German dialects spoken by Germanic tribes belonging to the Saxon federation, and which did not participate in the Second or High German Consonant Shift. The period is demarcated at the beginning by the onset of literacy and historical record in that language around AD 700, and at the end (ca. AD 1100) by its gradual development into Middle Low German, usually marked by the loss of full final vowels in morphological endings.

References

Resources

• Gerhard Köbler: Online Old Saxon to Modern High German/Modern English Dictionary
• Online digital text of Heliand at Washington University in St. Louis

Bibliography

• James E. Cathey. 2000. Old Saxon. München: Lincom Europa.ISBN 3895865141 (pbk.)/ ISBN 9783895865145 (pbk.)
• James E. Cathey. 2002. Hêliand: Text and Commentary. Morgantown: West Virginia University Press. ISBN 0937058645 (alk. paper)/ ISBN 9780937058640 (alk. paper)
• John Hendrik Gallée. 1993. Altsächsische Grammatik. 3rd ed. by Heinrich Tiefenbach. Sammlung kurzer Grammatiken Germanischer Dialekte A. 6. Tübingen: Niemeyer. ISBN 3484106816
• Ferdinand Holthausen. 1921. Altsächsisches Elementarbuch. 2nd ed. Germanische Bbliothek 1. Sammlung, 1. Reihe, 5. Heidelberg: Carl Winter.
• Paolo Ramat. 1969. Grammatica dell'antico sassone. Collana de filologia germanica 5. Milano.
• Irmengard Rauch. 1992. The Old Saxon Language: Grammar, Epic Narrative, Linguistic Interference. New York: P. Lang; ISBN 0820418935 (alk. paper)/ ISBN 9780820418933 (alk. paper)