In the early Middle Ages Old Dutch and Old Frisian were spoken in North and South Holland. Unfortunately, few texts from this early period have survived. What we do have are place names. Historical linguistics enables us to distil a piece of cultural history from these place names.
We go back to the year 500. An elongated ship sails into the mouth of the river Rhine. A few kilometers inland, the vessel moors at a high sand ridge. A group of men and women get out. Their leader is dressed in a red cloak with a golden buckle. On his hip rests a sword decorated with silver. He looks around curiously. He likes what he sees. The large forest in the dune area can be used for building timber and the surrounding creeks are undoubtedly full of fish. Furthermore, the proximity to the sea creates opportunities for trade and forays. The man gestures to his companions. Here they will build their village.
The leader's name is Oosugeer, which in his language means Gods Spear. The settlement he founded on that sandy ridge of the Rhine is therefore called 'the spirit ground of Oosugeer' by his descendants. Now, in the 21st century, that settlement and its early medieval name still exist. But due to the changes in language, the 'Oosugeer's spirit' of the sixth century has changed to Oegstgeest.
Oegstgeest in the early Middle Ages
We know from archaeological excavations that there was an early medieval settlement near present-day Oegstgeest. This settlement was about eight hectares in size and the southern edge bordered on the north bank of the river Rhine. The people who lived in Oegstgeest in the early Middle Ages (500-1000 AD) had many contacts with England and Denmark.
Archaeologists can see this from the style of the pottery, which shows many similarities in England and the Dutch coastal area. Because of the trade across the North Sea, the early medieval inhabitants of Oegstgeest were rich and powerful. The silver, gold-plated bowl that was excavated in Oegstgeest in 2013 bears witness to this wealth. Sometime in the seventh century this bowl was placed in a creek, presumably to be offered to the gods there.
North Sea Germanic
It is not only archeology that informs us about the Oegstgeest of the early Middle Ages. Linguistics also tells us that the inhabitants of the Dutch coast maintained close contacts with England. In England and the Dutch coastal area more or less the same language was spoken in that period. This language was the ancestor of later English and Frisian. Linguists also call this language North Sea Germanic.
Our Oosugeer from the early sixth century will therefore have spoken North Sea Germanic, which later changed into early medieval English (Old English) and early medieval Frisian (Old Frisian).
English and Frisian
The relationship between English and Frisian is no longer so clear. Modern Frisian contains many elements that resemble Dutch. This is because Frisian has been influenced by Dutch for centuries. Linguistically, we can see the old relationship between English and Frisian in the similarity between the English cheese and Frisian tsiis, where the Dutch cheese has. Also the English goose and the Frisian goes are very similar, while the Dutch goose is far from here again.
These words show that English and Frisian have jointly undergone sound developments that were different from those in Dutch. Linguists date these joint sound developments to a period just before 500 AD. Then the ancestors of the English and the Frisians lived together in northern Germany and Denmark.
The Oosugeer who founded Oegstgeest was probably one of the people who moved from northern Germany to the Dutch coastal area in the sixth century. His descendants will undoubtedly have called themselves Frisians and have spoken an early form of Old Frisian.
Dutch as a latecomer
But in Oegstgeest Dutch is spoken nowadays, right? Does this mean that Dutch did not arrive in Oegstgeest until later? Yes, of course. The speakers of early medieval Dutch, which we also call Old Dutch, lived mainly in Belgium and North Brabant. In the waning days of the Roman Empire, they had founded an empire that stretched from northern France to the German Rhineland, the so-called Frankish Empire.
But the Franks were eager to expand northward in the late seventh century. That is why they were regularly at war with the Frisians of the Dutch coastal area. They also thought it important that the Frisians became Christian and gave up their ancestral religion. In the early eighth century, the Franks succeeded in subduing the Frisians. This meant that the Franks gained more influence in the Dutch river area and that Frankish nobles started living among the Frisian population.
Switch language
The Frankish influence in the Dutch coastal area had major consequences in the following centuries (AD 800-1000). The language of the Franks, Old Dutch, became the prestige language of the Dutch coastal area from the ninth century onwards. This meant that Frisian merchants and nobles exchanged Old Frisian for Old Dutch. The Frisian place and water names were retained despite the language change. Because they deviate from the corresponding Dutch words, they betray their Frisian origin. This is how the early medieval Frisians said kaag instead of Dutch koog (e.g. the Kagerplassen east of Leiden) and zwet instead of sweet.
The Frisian place name Oegstgeest was also retained. As mentioned above, the first part of the place name Oegstgeest, namely oegst- , may be derived from a personal name Oosugeer. This is the Frisian form of a Germanic compound consisting of *ansu- 'pagan god' + *gair 'spear'. Besides the place name Oegstgeest, the same name has also been preserved in the English personal name Oscar and the Scandinavian personal name Ansgar. So like the Frisians goes instead of Dutch say goose we also have Oegstgeest instead of Anstgeest.
Immortal
From this period in which the language change from Old Frisian to Old Dutch must have taken place, we also find the first written trace of the settlement of Oosugeer. A clerk then wrote (c. 870 AD) that two farms in Ôsgêresgêst belonged to St. Maarten's Church in Utrecht.
We will never know whether people still told stories or sang songs about the arrival of Oosugeer on the Dutch coast. Exactly how the foundation of Oegstgeest worked will always remain guesswork. But at least the name of the founder has been preserved for posterity. Petrified in the place name Oegstgeest, Oosugeer has become immortal.