Sassenach
(ˈsæsənæx)
Also 8 Sassenaugh, Sacsanagh, 8–9 Sassenagh, Sassanagh, 9 Sacsanach.
[repr. Gael. Sasunnach adj. English, n. an Englishman = Irish Sasanach, Sacsanach, f. Sasan-, repr. the Teut. ethnic name Saxon. (Cf. Gael. Sasunn, Irish Sasana, Sacsain, England.)]
The name given by the Gaelic inhabitants of Great Britain and Ireland to their ‘Saxon’ or English neighbours. (Sometimes attributed to Welsh speakers: the corresponding Welsh form is Seisnig.)
| 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. 3 Sept., The Highlanders have no other name for the people of the low country, but Sassenaugh, or Saxons. 1814 Scott Let. to Morritt 11 Nov. in Lockhart, I believe the frolics one can cut in this loose garb are all set down by you Sassenachs to the real agility of the wearer. a 1820 Drennan in Spirit of Nation (1845) 24 Unarm'd must thy sons and thy daughters await The Sassenagh's lust or the Sassenagh's hate. a 1845 T. O. Davis Fontenoy v, Revenge! remember Limerick! dash down the Sacsanach. 1876 Grant Burgh Sch. Scot. ii. xiii. 410 note, A brave and patriotic Sassenach may be said to have wiped out this stain. |
| attrib. 1869 W. S. Gilbert Bab Ball. 187 All loved their McClan, save a Sassenach brute, Who came to the Highlands to fish and to shoot. |