The Anglo-Saxon Word

The following is a passage taken from the "Hand-Book of Anglo-Saxon and Early English" by Hiram Corson, published 1873.  [page 3 of JOHN I ]  It shows the word for JOHN as used in the Anglo-Saxon.

In the middle of the figure is the word "Iohanne".   It is similar to the Greek spelling, and becomes the word JOHN in the English.

The front page of the Anglo-Saxon reference is shown:

What a deal!

Dane Lands

Just about the time that the Anglo-Saxons began writing down their history, a number of folks showed up wanting some of the land. Vikings they were called, these people from Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Arriving around 875 AD they took over a large part of this island, mostly along the coast. The map to the left shows a rough distribution of these settlements down to the very heart of the land. Their language named a multiple of sites and villages which have been marked in green. The Anglo-Saxon continued to fight them right up to the time that the Frenchman William arrived in 1066. The map to the right shows the distribution of the name John as it is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. It was far from the most common used name, but the blue shows a wider distribution than the green. This would make me believe that it had to do with the establishment of Christianity among the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, and not from anything the Danes language had to contribute. Please note that this was the spelling translated as "John".

A helpful reference is "A History of The Vikings", by Gwyn Jones, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1984. [another Jones!]

The Ultimate Taboo

Nennius completes his chapter 37 with these words: "Thus the maid was delivered up to the king, who slept with her, and loved her exceedingly."

The story continues in chapter 38 that Hengist (the Anglo-Saxon chief) became the father-in-law to Vortigern and advised him to accept more Saxons to the island. Hengist then sent for his son and brother who brought "forty ships". Nennius states that the "incautious sovereign" agreed to this.

As if Vortigern needed more to make his name odious to the people Ninnus was writing, he adds in chapter 39: "In the meantime, Vortigern, as if desirous of adding to the evils he had already occasioned, married his own daughter, by whom he had a son." Can you believe it? Incest, the taboo of all time was added to the "evils" that Vortigern committed.

Much more of this story as given by Nennius is found in chapters 39-49. It would seem that Vortigern was advised by "his twelve wise men", to "Retire to the remote boundaries of your kingdom: there build and fortify a city to defend yourself, for the people you have received are treacherous; they are seeking to subdue you by stratagem, and even during your life, to seize upon all the countries subject to your power, how much more will they attempt, after your death!"

It is here, in the "remote boundaries" that Vortigern founds his fortify city in the mountains of Snowdonia.

For those who have an interest in reading the rest of the story, see Medieval-Sourcebook:Nennius: Historia Brittonum, 8th century.

Fleeing Fire

The Anglo-Saxons are believed to originate from three tribes of Germanic peoples who occupied what is now Denmark and part of the costal areas around this peninsula. Angles, Jutes, and Saxons are the names. It is thought that they had already established trade relationships with the Britons and had for many years prior to our Vortigern been in contact with the island. When the Picts arrived from the north, and the Irish (Scotti) from the west, they were part of the defense of the island. The Anglo-Saxon historians, writting some 400 years after Gildas around 900 AD, write the events this way:

446. The British sent men over the sea to Rome, and asked help against the Picts, but they never had it, because they were on an expedition against king Attila the Hun. They sent then to the Angles, and the Anglian athelings, with the same request.

449. ...In their days the Anngles were invited here by king Vortigern, And they then came to Britain in three longships, landing at Ebbesfleet. King Vortigern gave then territory in the southeast of this land, on the condition that they fight the Picts. This they did, and had victory wherever they went. They then sent to Angel, commanded more aid, and commanded that they should be told of the Britons' worthlessness, and the choice nature fo the land. They soon sent hither a greater host to help the others. Then came the men of three Germanic tribes: Old Saxons; Angles and Jutes...First of all, they killed and drove away the king's enemies: then later they turned on the king and the British, destroying through fire and the sword's edge.

455. Hengest and Horsa fought Vortigern the king, in the place called Aegelesthrep his brother Horsa was killed, and after that Hengest and his son Aesc received the kingdom.

456. Hengest and Aesc fought the Britons in the place called Crecganford. There they killed four companies. The Britons gave up Kent. and in great fear fled to London.

465. Hegest and Aesc foought the Wesh near Wippedesfleot and killed twelve Welsh ealdormen. One of their own thanes was killed there, whose name was Wipped.

473. Hengest and Aesc fought the Welsh and seized countless spoils of war. The Welsh fled the English as one flees fire.

The above was taken from: The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, translated and collated by, Anne Savage, Crescent Books, New York, 1995, p. 29.

The Beginnings

The JONES surname had its beginning with struggle...struggle between two races, struggle between two languages, and struggle between two cultures. Ironically, these two races had their own beginnings within the same central European geography. One was south of the Danube, and the other north. The one south was centered around salt mines, which gave it the name Hallstatt Culture, from the very word for salt. The one north ultimately migrated to the coastal areas facing the North Sea to become Jutes, Angles, and Saxons. It was the clash of these two cultures lasting more than a thousand years that led to the surname JONES. Each culture shared a common belief (paradigm) that "might makes right". To both cultures the sword certainly spoke louder than words, and it was by the sword that both survived and expanded to end up fighting each other in a land called Albion.

The Hallstatt Culture which, at first, shared a common European language root with the northern tribes, branched westward to a developing period call "La Tene". Here a warrior-aristocracy evolved where a warrior took his two-wheeled chariot and sword to his grave! The earliest roots of languages, by this time, had split with the Celtic branch dividing from the Germanic branch. They both shared the culture of family, which was the center of society and social rank. It is unclear at what point the southern group became known at "Celts", but they had an advantage over most other tribes due to iron. Their iron weapons had a distinct advantage when their might was to make right. As their culture moved southward, eastward, and westward, they shared a common language called "Continental Celtic" which was to branch into Brythonic, Gaulish, and Manx. The Germanic branch divided into the Northern Germanic languages and the Western Germanic languages. By the time the Anglo-Saxon language and the Welsh language collided on an island centuries yet to come, their tongues had become so distinct and different sounding, that they could not understand or pronounce the other's speech.

It is the conflict between these two languages that leads to the surname JONES.