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Glite Dictionary
Saxonism

Saxonism

1 9.9
A word or way of speaking that comes from the Saxons
  • noun
  • /ˈsæksənˌɪzəm/
: saxonismo
  • Their discussion about the influence of Saxonism on modern language was fascinating.
  • Anglo-Saxonism

Examples

  • Linguists often study Saxonism to understand the roots of certain English words.

  • Changing the political subject from Americanness and religion to race whenever possible, they challenged anti-Celtic Anglo-Saxonism by becoming leaders in the cause of white supremacy.

    Academic text (1997)

  • Perhaps what is most startling of all to today's reader is Bishara's defense of his compatriots in terms of the Anglo-Saxonism typical of his day:

    Academic text (1993)

  • The scholar explained many features of Saxonism in early English literature.

Surface Forms

Saxonism singular
Saxonisms plural

Morphology

Saxonism = Saxon (transparent) = Saxon + ism

The meaning is directly formed from 'Saxon' + '-ism' indicating a feature or practice associated with Saxons, which learners can infer from knowing 'Saxon' and the productive suffix '-ism'.

Etymology

Saxonism comes from Saxon, the name of a group of people who lived long ago in parts of England and spoke an old German language. It means a word or style of speech that comes from those people, so think of simple English words like 'house' as a Saxonism compared with the fancier 'domicile'.