The term Anglo-Saxon is a relatively modern one. It refers to settlers from the German regions of Angeln and Saxony, who made their way over to Britain after the fall of the Roman Empire around AD 410
德国民族(的一员)(通过入侵)大量涌入英国,成为英国的主要人口,之后上千年发展壮大,政府世界(英帝国是历史上最大的帝国),延伸出下一个世界第一强国,美国。这就是盎格鲁撒克逊的故事。今天我们说英国人(English),反而是指盎格鲁人和盎格鲁后裔(Angelcynn ,family of the Angles)。
也许历史过长,英国历史上盎格鲁撒克逊不总是那么辉煌,外来杂种多了?威廉大帝(威廉一世,William the Conqueror)征服英国之后法国诺曼人一直统治英国,英国宫廷说的是法语,不是英语,亨利四世是第一个用英语来巩固自己造反(篡位)基础的贵族,最后直到跟英国人融成一体,说盎格鲁撒克逊被混的乱七八糟也是可能的。
考古学家Duncan Sayer,以及上面提到的James M. Harland,都指出盎格鲁撒克逊作为一个文化现象是19世纪才大举兴旺起来的,侧面是英国帝国主义高峰的一个反应。Duncan Sayer列举了(他本人不是研究基因的)基因研究,也就是目前在缺乏考古证据下最权威的判断,基本否定英国人是盎格鲁撒克逊后裔的说法。
An early attempt in 2002 relied on modern DNA with a study of the male Y chromosome suggesting there had been a 95% population replacement of Britons by the Anglo-Saxons, comprised of different people from Northern Europe. But another study, based on mitochondrial DNA which is inherited from the mother, found no evidence of significant post-Roman migration into England. A third paper suggested that the genetic contribution of the Anglo-Saxons in south-eastern England was under 50%