Old Low German

Old Saxon, also known as Old Low German, is a Germanic language and the earliest recorded form of Low German (spoken nowadays in Westphalia, Lower Saxony, Bremen, Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein and northeastern Netherlands). It belongs to the West Germanic branch and is closely related to the Anglo-Frisian languages. It is documented from the 8th century until the 12th century, when it evolved into Middle Low German. It was spoken on the north-west coast of Germany and in the Netherlands by Saxon peoples. It is close enough to Old Anglo-Frisian (Old Frisian, Old English) that it partially participates in the Ingvaeonic nasal spirant law; it is also closely related to Old Dutch.

The grammar of Old Saxon was fully inflected with five grammatical cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, and instrumental), three grammatical numbers (, plural, and dual) and three grammatical genders (masculine, feminine, and neuter). The dual forms occurred in the first and second persons only and referred to groups of two.