West Saxon

American  

noun

1. the Old English dialect of the West Saxon kingdom, dominant after a.d. c850 and the medium of nearly all the literary remains of Old English.

2. any of the English of the period before the Norman Conquest who lived in the region south of the Thames and west of Surrey and Sussex.

3. a person whose native tongue was West Saxon.

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adjective

1. of or relating to the West Saxons or their dialect.

West Saxon British  

adjective

1. of or relating to Wessex, its inhabitants, or their dialect

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noun

1. the dialect of Old English spoken in Wessex: the chief literary dialect of Old English See also Anglian Kentish

2. an inhabitant of Wessex

Etymology

Origin of West Saxon

1350–1400; Middle English, for Old English Westseaxan Wessex; west, Saxon

Example Sentences

New research indicates the Cerne Abbas Giant in Dorset was originally carved as an image of Hercules to mark a muster station for West Saxon armies.

From BBC • Jan. 1, 2024

Struck at a West Saxon mint, possibly in Southampton or Winchester, the coin bears the King's title 'Ecgbeorht Rex' around a monogram of the word Saxon.

From BBC • Jul. 31, 2021

In accordance with the extension of the West Saxon kingdom, which became the kingdom of the English, the court increased.

From Cathedral Cities of England by Gilbert, George

After the transference of the West Saxon see from Sherborne to Sarum in 1075, Dorset remained part of that diocese until 1542, when it was included in the newly formed diocese of Bristol.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 6 "Dodwell" to "Drama" by Various

He was probably the first king to introduce written law into Wessex, viz., his famous “Dooms,” enacted by a West Saxon witenagemot in the early years of his reign.635.Winchester.

From Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England by Bede, Cuthbert