- Sassenach
Sassenach is a word used chiefly by the Scots to designate an Englishman. It derives from the Gaelic "Sasunnach" meaning, originally, "Saxon", from the Latin "
Saxones ". The modern Scottish spelling is "Sasannach". As employed by Scots orScottish English -speakers today it is usually used in jest, as a (friendly) term of abuse. TheOxford English Dictionary (OED) gives 1771 as the date of the earliest written use of the word in English."Sasanach", the Irish-language word for an Englishman, has the same derivation, as do the words used in Welsh to describe the English people ("Saeson", sing. "Sais") and the language and things English in general: "Saesneg" and "Seisnig". These words are normally, however, used only in the Irish and Welsh languages themselves.
Cornish also terms English "Sawsnek" from the same derivation. Some Cornish were known to use the expression Meea navidna cowza sawzneck"!' to feign ignorance of the English language. [Richard Carew, "Survey of Cornwall", 1602 N.B. in revived Cornish, this would be transcribed My ny vynnaf cows sowsnek"'. However the Cornish word "Emit" meaning "ant" (and perversely derived from
OE ) is more commonly used in Cornwall today as slang to designate non-Cornish Englishmen.]Uses
In
James Joyce 's "Ulysses",Buck Mulligan refers to Haines, a British guest in theMartello tower with them, as "the Sassenach". And in the "Cyclops" episode, the citizen, a Gaelic revivalist, says: "To hell with the bloody brutal Sassenachs and their patois."In the well-known Irish Rebel song, "The Bold Fenian Men", the final couplet uses the word "sassenach": "All who love foreign law, native or sassenach, must out and make way for the bold Fenian men."
In the "Outlander" series of novels by
Diana Gabaldon , the main character, Englishwoman Claire Fraser (Beauchamp), is often referred to as 'Sassenach' by her Scottish husband, Jamie Fraser, as aterm of endearment .In the film "", the handyman Mowbray rebukes Captain Hamilton for his "Sassenach attitudes".
References
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