Seaxnēat

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In Germanic mythology, Seaxnēat (pronounced [ˈsæɑksnæːɑt]) or Saxnōt was the national god of the Saxons.

Attestation

The

Thunaer
(Thor).

The genealogy of the kings of Essex originally placed Seaxnēat at its apex. It was subsequently modified to make Seaxnēat son of

Woden
, with the first king of Essex seven generations later:

Woden, Seaxnēat, Gesecg, Andsecg, Swaeppa, Sigefugel, Bedca, Offa, Æscwine (r. c. 527-587)

Etymology

The name is usually derived from "

Fro, following Gabriel Turville-Petre (and invoking Georges Dumézil's trifunctional hypothesis
).

Swiss linguist Heinrich Wagner (de) proposed that the second element of his name is cognate to Celtic deity Nodens, both from a root meaning 'to get, make use of'.[2]

Parallels

Heinrich Wagner also saw mythological parallels between Saxnot and its proposed cognate Nodens (and

Nuada): the word sax may refer to a shortsword, whereas Nuada is the bearer of a flashing sword in Irish mythology; deity Saxnot is revered as the ancestor of the Saxons, while Nuada is "progenitor par excellance".[3]

See also

Notes

  1. Eor
    , Er, Ear, is one with Ares the son of Zeus; and as the Germans had given the rank of Zeus to their Wuotan, Týr and consequently Eor appears as the son of the highest god. [...] Then again the famous
    Cheruscans
    of Tacitus, a people synonymous, nay identical with them, were named after Cheru, Heru = Eor, from whom their name can be derived."
  2. ^ Wagner, Heinrich. "Zur Etymologie von keltisch Nodons, Ir. Nuadu, Kymr. Nudd/Lludd". In: Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 41, no. 1 (1986): 180-181. https://doi.org/10.1515/zcph.1986.41.1.180
  3. ^ Wagner, Heinrich. "Zur Etymologie von keltisch Nodons, Ir. Nuadu, Kymr. Nudd/Lludd". In: Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 41, no. 1 (1986): 180-182. https://doi.org/10.1515/zcph.1986.41.1.180

References

  • Chaney, William A. (1970). The Cult of Kingship in Anglo-Saxon England: The Transition from Paganism to Christianity. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
  • Philippson, E. A.(1929). Germanisches Heidentum bei den Angelsachsen. Leipzig.
  • ISBN 0-85991-513-1


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