Seaxnēat
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Seaxnēat".

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2008)

Seaxnēat (or Saxnōt) is the mythical founder of the Saxons. Seaxnēat seems to have been a god unique to the Saxons, although he has been compared to Tyr.

Etymology

The name is likely to mean 'help of the Saxons', i.e. the god who would aid the tribe in times of trouble (compare modern German not, need or necessity), though other suggestions include "knife cow" or "cow of the Saxons", Old English nēat and Old Saxon nōt (modern English neat) meaning "cow", or from Old Norse njótr (Old English notu), meaning "enjoyment" (i.e., "friend").¹

Seaxnēat is recorded amongst the continental Saxon as Saxnōt, where he is mentioned in Old Saxon as a god who had to be denounced during their conversion to Christianity in the Old Saxon baptismal vow.

Ancestor of the East Saxons

Seaxnēat was also worshiped in England, where he was seen as the ancestor of the East Saxons, as recorded in the genealogies of Essex. The other Saxon kingdoms of England, Wessex and Sussex, claimed different ancestries.

See also

• West Germanic deities

References

etymology from Pewsey, S., & Brooks, A. (1993), East Saxon Heritage

v • d • e Anglo-Saxon paganism and mythology Gods Ēostre • Frigga • Hretha • Ing • Saxnot • Þunor • Tiw • Wōden • Cofgodas Divine figures Ægil • Beowa • Godwulf • Hengest • Horsa • Sceaf • Wælcyrige • Wayland Smith Other beings Elf • Dweorh • Eoten/Thurs • Wight Locations Middangeard • Neorxnawang Sources Anglo-Saxon Chronicle • Anglo-Saxon calendar • Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem • Beowulf • De temporum ratione • Deor • Finnesburg Fragment • Franks Casket • Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum • Nine Herbs Charm • Old English language • Spong Hill • Sutton Hoo • Wið færstice • Æcerbot Origins Germanic paganism • (Angles • Jutes • Saxons) Society Anglo-Saxon law • Anglo-Saxon runes • Calendar • Blōtan • Folkmoot • Maypole • Moot hill • Scop • Symbel • Thegn • Thing • Thyle • Weregild • Wicce • Wilweorthunga • Wyrd • Yule See also: Norse paganism • Anglo-Saxon Christianity • Fyrnsidu • Theodism

This article relating to a European myth or legend is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.