LL-L "Enclaves" 2003.01.06 (05) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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From: Elaine Schulte <elaineschulte at adelphia.net>
Subject: Saxon in Siebenburgen/Transylvania

I am researching the Saxons of Siebenburgen, where my grandparents emigrated
from around 1905.  I understand that they spoke "Saxon" and would like
clarifying information about it.  I was there last summer and my "hoche
Deutsch"--miserable as it is--was easily understood there.  The Saxons lived
there since the 12th century, but most are gone now.  What do you know about
their language?  Many thanks.

Elaine Schulte

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Enclaves

Hi, and welcome to Lowlands-L, Elaine!

Let me briefly get the ball rolling for you.

The homeland of the so-called "Saxons" is called _Siebenbürgen_ in German,
_Transilvania_ in Romanian and _Erdély_ in Hungarian, and it is what in
English is "Transylvania;" we are thus dealing with what in English ought to
be called "Translylvanian Saxons" or "Transylvania Saxons," corresponding to
German _Siebenbürgen-Sachsen_.

Early Transylvanian documents refer to the 12th-century "German" settlers in
Latin as _hospites Theutonici_ ("German guests") and _Flandrenses_
("Flemings"), affording them the _jus Theutonicum_ ("German Rights").  I am
not sure exactly where the ancestors of this community came from, but I
assume it was a mixture, not unlike the one that settled farther north in
lands previously dominated by Slavonic- and Baltic-speaking peoples.  The
immigrants were people from many parts of what nowadays are Western Germany,
Belgium and the Netherlands, a mixture of Saxons, Franks (including Flemings
and Limburgers) and Germans, perhaps with Saxon domination, hence the
collective name.

I don't know a lot about the Transylvanian Saxon dialects, but the little I
know seems to point in the direction of these dialects being German rather
than Saxon.  (Please bear in mind that today's German state of Saxony is an
originally German-speaking area that got its name merely thanks to coming
under a Saxon-born ruler, that actual Old-Saxon-derived varieties were never
spoken there.)  I would be delighted if someone could show that those
dialects of Transylvania are indeed wholly or partly Saxon-based.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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