Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A Saxon; an Englishman: a general name applied by the Scottish Highlanders of the British Isles to persons of Saxon race.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Celtic A Saxon; an Englishman; a Lowlander.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Scotland, pejorative An English person.
- noun Scotland, pejorative A Lowland
Scot .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the Scots' term for an English person
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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If like me you you're a sassenach who has never heard of Robin Jenkins (1912 - 2005) then hie thee oot there and discover because I can't recommend him highly enough.
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As far as I can make out He meant You can't have those jobs because Youre a bunch of useless, unskilled sassenach baboons, or something like that.
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Itz reely messin usns arownd, innit? ratsnfratsnmumble sassenach bas… erm, prollee nawt teh best thyme to bee teechin yu skawtish cursees.
Video: Kittehs Exercise Wheel - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger? 2009
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At this moment a vast rumbling was heard in the corridor outside, in some language Alec didn't know, and of which he could only distinguish the word sassenach.
The Life of the World to Come Baker, Kage 2004
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"This sassenach is threatening to murder me, Lieutenant," complained
Uncle Sam's Boys as Sergeants or, Handling Their First Real Commands 1895
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Wait till I get the sassenach into the annals of Tageruach, the hagiographer; I'll give him enough of the
Whirligigs O. Henry 1886
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Believe me ... they'd welcome the Skinnys more than a sassenach!!
Army Rumour Service 2010
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The taxi driver who takes us to the restaurant greets her as an old friend, and relates a long and (to my sassenach ears) impenetrable story about some local gangsters.
Media news, UK and world media comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk 2010
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Believe me ... they'd welcome the Skinnys more than a sassenach!!
Army Rumour Service 2010
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Killing English by the 100's at the battle of the Little Bannock Burn was one of the happiest times of my life, oh I love ta kill the sassenach, and the Jap and the German, Americans and any wog also.
Old Bitter Balls 2009
garyth123 commented on the word sassenach
it was also formerly applied by Highlanders to (non-Gaelic-speaking) Lowlanders. (Wikipedia)
December 28, 2008
nycanthro commented on the word sassenach
This is more of a Scottish Gaelic or Irish word. I think it comes from their word for "Saxon". Can someone confirm this? My Googling finger has gang agley. Ta.
February 27, 2009
sionnach commented on the word sassenach
Well, I can confirm that the Irish word for someone from England is "Sasanach", so it's entirely plausible that the Scots Gaelic word is "Sassenach". "Sassenach" would not be an admissible spelling in Irish Gaelic because there is a rule that requires vowels on either side of a consonant to be of the same type, broad (a, o, u) or slender (i, e).
February 27, 2009
bilby commented on the word sassenach
Hot Tip! The third link from the left (brown icon) under the word does a search at the Online Etymological Dictionary. Which in this case sez:
Gaelic for "English person," 1771, Sassenaugh, lit. "Saxon," from L. Saxones, from a Gmc. source (cf. O.E. Seaxe "the Saxons"). The modern form of the word was established c.1814 by Sir Walter Scott, from Scot. Sasunnoch, Ir. Sasanach, Welsh Seisnig.
February 27, 2009
sionnach commented on the word sassenach
For bilby if you press that button
you get a ton
o nutton.
February 27, 2009
bilby commented on the word sassenach
Oh Foxy, dear Foxy, slaverin' wid glee,
You can't trap a bilby by etta-molla-gee-
whiz
February 27, 2009
chained_bear commented on the word sassenach
I've seen it in novels and stuff spelled Sassenach. Not that that makes it correct.
February 28, 2009
nycanthro commented on the word sassenach
Any time I've heard this word uttered, it was as a playful insult suggesting that a person of English (i.e., non-Celtic) extraction was somehow 'lesser than'. I've always found it weird how sometimes a word for what a person is, can be transformed into an epithet by mere tone or context without needing to be qualified by an adjective. For example, "Jew," "goy," and, ever increasingly, "American." LOL.
March 2, 2009