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Boltonian · 01-23-2007, 12:08 PM

Most British people are English, and the English are the descendants of the Anglo-Saxons, a Germanic people who came from what is now Germany and Denmark. That's why English is a Germanic language related to German. The Anglo-Saxons comprised of three tribes - the Angles (where England gets its name from), the Saxons and the Jutes. Even though England gets its name from the Angles - Angleland - the Angles were probably the smallest of the three tribes.

England used to be seven different independent Anglo-Saxon kingdoms - coolectively known as the Heptarchy - and each kingdom had it own king ("Bretwalda"). These kingdoms often went to war with one another. The seven kingdoms then became unified into one country under King Alfred - "Alfred the Great" - or, as the English know him today, the Father of England. Some names of English counties and regions are derived from these Anglo-Saxons - Essex means "East Saxon", Sussex means "South Saxon", Wessex means "West Saxon", Norfolk means "North People" and Suffolk means "South People". That's why the English use the word "folk" to mean "people" as it was the word that was used to mean "people" in the language of the Anglo-Saxons.

The Scots, Welsh and Irish are the natives of the British Isles, the descandants of the Celts. Scotland and Wales were formed when the invading Anglo-Saxons pushed the natives Celts into the extreme North and West of the island, thus forming the two modern day Celtic nations of Scotland and Wales with England occupying the rest of the island.

01-23-2007, 12:08 PM	#22 (permalink)
Boltonian Banished Regular Join Date: 04-23-06 Location: Bolton, Lancashire, Great Britain Posts: 119	Most British people are English, and the English are the descendants of the Anglo-Saxons, a Germanic people who came from what is now Germany and Denmark. That's why English is a Germanic language related to German. The Anglo-Saxons comprised of three tribes - the Angles (where England gets its name from), the Saxons and the Jutes. Even though England gets its name from the Angles - Angleland - the Angles were probably the smallest of the three tribes. England used to be seven different independent Anglo-Saxon kingdoms - coolectively known as the Heptarchy - and each kingdom had it own king ("Bretwalda"). These kingdoms often went to war with one another. The seven kingdoms then became unified into one country under King Alfred - "Alfred the Great" - or, as the English know him today, the Father of England. Some names of English counties and regions are derived from these Anglo-Saxons - Essex means "East Saxon", Sussex means "South Saxon", Wessex means "West Saxon", Norfolk means "North People" and Suffolk means "South People". That's why the English use the word "folk" to mean "people" as it was the word that was used to mean "people" in the language of the Anglo-Saxons. The Scots, Welsh and Irish are the natives of the British Isles, the descandants of the Celts. Scotland and Wales were formed when the invading Anglo-Saxons pushed the natives Celts into the extreme North and West of the island, thus forming the two modern day Celtic nations of Scotland and Wales with England occupying the rest of the island. Last edited by Boltonian : 01-23-2007 at 12:14 PM.