why was the country called england

[mouzy93]

why is it that england is called england, not something else? what is the words origin?

[dinsdale]

The country was once occupied by the saxons, they were then invaded during the 5th and 6th century by a group of germanians known as the angles. the county was then named Angle-Land, which over the years became Englad. Interstingly the only place left in the uk where the true origanal English language is spoken is Newcastle Upon Tyne.

[redshoot]

why aye man!

[cheyenne]

dinsdale youre not a geordie by any chance.

[dinsdale]

Did something give that away Vinny?? Toon Army!!!!

[IndieSinger]

dinsdale - ah diven'ah wat ya's gaan aan aboot man, ya' muckle radgie heed!

[stuffedlemur]

thanks that really helped me with my culture reports

[New Forester]

The Saxons did not predate the Angles -- these two together with the Jutes were the main Germanic colonists of what became England.

  ;

The people here before that were the British, speaking a language similar to modern Welsh or Cornish.  The "Anglish" (nowadays we usually call them Anglo Saxons) called the native British "Foreigners", which in Anglo Saxon was something like Ouales, or Welsh.

 

Ironically, the Welsh for Wales is Cymru (pr Cumry), meaning, I think "our people".  Cumbria likewise.  Welsh for English is Saes, or Saxon, as is the Gaelic Sassenach.

 

Many British people remained in what became England, leading to many place names with the "wal" element, such as Walford (the ford of the British), Walton (British village), Wallingford etc.   A little British survives in English, for example for counting sheep in the Pennines (yan, tan, tethera, methera, pimp), and in a very few words such as Avon (river) and brock (badger).

 

The British language survived quite a long time in many parts of "England", especially Cornwall, Cumbria, and of course still in Wales.

 

Of course for the later Normans, British and English were both languages of the common people, and they may not have cared or even known what the differences were.

[kr123]

it is also interesting to note that modern German for thin is ... Eng! but yes England got its name from The land of the Angles, AngleLand,EngLand

[Merlin]

See 'Monarchy' on Channel 4, 2100 tonight. Judging from the title of tonight's episode, that might explain it.