CHAPTER III.
OF THE DIALECTS OF THE SAXON AREA, AND OF THE SO-CALLED OLD SAXON.
[§ 21]. The area occupied by the Saxons of Germany has been investigated; and it now remains to ask, how far the language of the occupants was absolutely identical throughout, or how far it fell into dialects or sub-dialects.
There were at least two divisions of the Saxon; (1st) the Saxon of which the extant specimens are of English origin, and (2nd), the Saxon of which the extant specimens are of Continental origin. We will call these at present the Saxon of England, and the Saxon of the Continent.
[§ 22]. Respecting the Saxon of England and the Saxon of the Continent, there is good reason for believing that the first was spoken in the northern, the second in the southern portion of the Saxon area, i.e., the one in Hanover and the other in Westphalia, the probable boundaries between them being the line of highlands between Osnaburg and Paderborn.
[§ 23]. Respecting the Saxon of England and the Saxon of the Continent, there is good reason for believing that, whilst the former was the mother-tongue of the Angles and the conquerors of England, the latter was that of the Cherusci of Arminius, the conquerors and the annihilators of the legions of Varus.[[19]]
[§ 24]. Respecting the Saxon of England and the
Saxon of the Continent, it is a fact that, whilst we have a full literature in the former, we have but fragmentary specimens of the latter—these being chiefly the following: (1) the Heliand,[[20]] (2) Hildubrand and Hathubrant,[[21]] (3) the Carolinian Psalms.[[22]]
[§ 25]. The preceding points have been predicated respecting the difference between the two ascertained Saxon dialects, for the sake of preparing the reader for the names by which they are known.
| THE SAXON OF THE CONTINENT MAY BE CALLED | THE SAXON OF ENGLAND MAY BE CALLED |
| 1. Continental Saxon. | Insular Saxon. |
| 2. German Saxon. | English Saxon. |
| 3. Westphalian Saxon. | Hanoverian Saxon. |
| 4. South Saxon. | North Saxon. |
| 5. Cheruscan Saxon. | Angle Saxon. |
| 6. Saxon of the Heliand. | Saxon of Beowulf.[[23]] |
[§ 26]. The Saxon of England is called Anglo-Saxon; a term against which no exception can be raised.
[§ 27]. The Saxon of the Continent used to be called Dano-Saxon, and is called Old Saxon.
[§ 28]. Why called Dano-Saxon.—When the poem called Heliand was first discovered in an English library, the difference in language between it and the common Anglo-Saxon composition was accounted for by the assumption of a Danish intermixture.
[§ 29]. Why called Old Saxon. When the Continental origin of the Heliand was recognised, the language was called Old Saxon, because it represented the Saxon of the mother-country, the natives of which were called Old Saxons by the Anglo-Saxons themselves. Still the term is exceptionable; as the Saxon of the Heliand is probably a sister-dialect of the Anglo-Saxon, rather than the Anglo-Saxon itself in a Continental locality. Exceptionable, however, as it is, it will be employed.