modern Saxony medieval Saxon duchy name shift south

Germany's Saxony is far from the original homeland of the Saxons

The name Saxony originally referred to a broad region of northern Germany associated with the Saxons. Over centuries, dynastic inheritance and the transfer of political titles shifted the name toward territories farther southeast. Today's German state of Saxony is therefore not centered on the early medieval Saxon homeland. Place names can migrate even when the land itself stays put.

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