Upper Saxony

Upper Saxony (German: Obersachsen, pronounced [ˈoːbɐˌzaksn̩]; Latin: Saxonia superioris) is a polysemic designation for various historical, geographical and linguistic regions, situated in eastern parts of modern Germany, and mainly centred, depending on the context, on the Free State of Saxony and the neighboring State of Saxony-Anhalt, with their adjacent surroundings. The term was devised in order to make distinction between the lands of Saxony proper (historical Old Saxony with the Stem Duchy of Saxony) and regions further to the southeast, on the middle Elbe, that became known as Saxony through later transfers of Saxon ducal titles and dynastic claims of Ascanians (since 1180) and Wettins (since 1423). Thus by the 16th century, it became common to use the term Lower Saxony (Latin: Saxonia inferioris) as a designation for the old Saxon lands (as in the name of modern State of Lower Saxony), while the term Upper Saxony became a descriptive designation for new Saxon lands in regions of middle Elbe. Those distinctions were reflected in names of Imperial Circles, one of them being named the Upper Saxon Circle (1512–1806).