| Saxonism |
| Definition - A movement to replace foreign-derived English words with ones having Anglo-Saxon roots. Two of its quasi-successes were foreword for preface and handbook for manual. |
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Oxford English Dictionary - The term's first citation is from 1926: "Saxonism is a name for the attempt to raise the proportion borne by the originally & etymologically English words in our speech to those that come from alien sources." (Fowler Mod. Eng. Usage 514/2) |
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Quotation - "Saxonisms are generally the out-come of a purist and nativist approach to the language. The aim behind many deliberately created forms has been to create compounds and derivatives to replace foreign borrowings; the device is rooted in the Old English practice of loan-translating Latin words: benevolentia as wel-willedness (well-willingness); trinitas as thrines (threeness). … In the 16c, it was a reaction to inkhorn terms; in his translation of the Bible, John Cheke used hundreder and gainrising instead of centurion and resurrection." (Source: Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language, Tom McArthur) |
